Carsten Yndigegn
Associate Professor, Ph.D.
University of Southern Denmark
Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Border Region Studies
Persillegade 6
DK-6200 Aabenraa
Denmark
+45 6550 1764
+45 7462 5169
Theme Educational Sociology:
The choice of higher education
among young people in the national periphery: Split between local network and
future possibilities in the centres
The purpose with this paper is to address the
conditions that young people in the geographic periphery face when they make
the transition from upper secondary education into higher education and working
life. The paper investigates how mobility preparedness directs the choice of
higher education and determinates the future life possibilities.
The investigation builds on data from a survey among
all applicants from the county of Sønderjylland to higher education in Denmark
in 2002. It was found that the patterns of decision is determined by both
social and spatial factors, that socioeconomic background is of lesser
importance than the possession of cultural capital, and that the attachment to
local networks is the main barrier for choosing an education that optimises the
life expectations of the young people.
It is concluded that motives and strategies for
choosing higher education leaves the locally attached with fewer life
possibilities compared to those leaving to or living in the centres. Those
leaving the county for higher education in the centres expressed motives about
their future life that make it unlikely that they will return to the county
when they have finished their education. This makes the recruitment of highly
educated workers more difficult and insecure. Together, this seems to create a
barrier for the region in developing the knowledge society, thereby threatening
the region of turning into a downward spiral.