Changes in the extent of inequality in access to university education in Italy

Abstract

In this paper we investigate changes over time in university participation between people from richer and poorer family backgrounds in Italy during a period when the structure of the university education has undergone profound changes. We use data from three waves of a survey on a nationally representative sample of recent high school leavers. Our findings show that educational inequality did not show any significant changes between 1995 and 2001. Additionally, using a decomposition analysis, we find that there is no consistent evidence that the 2001 university reform is associated with behavioural changes leading to lower educational inequality [JEL Classification: I20, I21].