This article examines the relevance of different institutional levels in higher education for the educational strategies of upper milieu students in a case study conducted in Germany. Based on our analysis of 95 qualitative interviews with Masters students from different social backgrounds, we show how upper milieu students take advantage of the…

Research on scientific careers finds a mover's advantage. International migration correlates with increased visibility and productivity. However, if scientists who move internationally, on average, enter into more prestigious employments than they came from, extant research may overestimate the direct performance gains associated with…

Elite schools, long tasked with creating a future national elite, often now find themselves competing in a global education market. This article explores how one such school, in Switzerland, articulates with the global imaginary of its local geography -- in particular, with images of luxury tourism and safety -- to appeal to a globally wealthy…

Beneath the veneer of prestige and promise, a hidden issue pervades the campuses of America's selective universities. In "Starving the Dream," Nathan F. Alleman, Cara Cliburn Allen, and Sarah E. Madsen reveal the startling contradiction between the celebrated opportunities of these prestige-oriented institutions and the food insecurity…

Although internationalisation underpins many practices in higher education, its adopted approaches can be uneven between institutions and create ambiguous conceptualisations of how it is enacted in practice. Therefore, a whole-sector analysis can provide insight into whether spaces exist for new and innovative approaches to internationalisation,…

This article discusses the methodological challenges of researching elite boys' schooling, in a study involving interviewing alumni who attended these schools from the 1970s to the 2020s. In particular, through a feminist poststructuralist methodological framing, it considers the necessity for researcher reflexivity in engaging in research in such…

Despite college rankings' popular yet controversial nature, there is little known about the relationship between college rankings and students. Prior literature suggests that students who make use of rankings are more privileged, yet there lacks a comprehensive analysis surrounding the types of students who place importance on rankings in more…

Selecting a major is a critical decision for undergraduate students, yet research on their decision-making processes within the Chinese context remains limited. Using cultural capital and the dual-process model of culture in action as theoretical frameworks, this study examines the major selection processes of 45 first-year students at two elite…

In England and Wales, fee-charging independent schools can be legally classified as charities and, therefore, receive associated benefits, the most obvious being taxation advantages. The high fees charged by many of these schools create financial exclusivity, which, it will be seen, confers significant social and cultural capital to those who can…

This research looks at higher education choice through the lens of extended self in consumer behavior. An online survey at two US universities, one public and one private, found that extended-self moderated how much fulfillment of self-image needs led students to like a university. Self-esteem needs were a critical part of this process, positively…

Inequalities in access to elite higher education institutions are central in the horizontal dimension of social stratification in higher education. Previous studies have consistently shown large social inequalities in access from French "grandes écoles" (GE), but there is limited empirical evidence on the effect of alternative admission…

Science and Engineering education are jewels of higher education. In India, among the pioneers of premium technical institutes, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are structurally designed to deliver global knowledge capital with a state-of-the-art curriculum and rigorous standards. Their capability to positively impact the global scale is…

The Congregation of Holy Cross has been working on evangelisation and education in Bangladesh for more than 170 years. This paper examines and discusses the educational aims of highly reputed institution of Holy Cross Congregation, Notre Dame College (NDC). It also examines how NDC negotiated historical changes -- internal and external -- and how…

A worldwide trend towards high levels of participation in higher education, paired with concerns about the post-university destinations of an increasing pool of graduates, have brought about two parallel phenomena: a process of sharp stratification in higher education and the growing relevance of postgraduate education as undergraduate study…

This chapter provides a discussion on elite schools and their students from the current literature and research that has been conducted to date globally and within the South African context, with a particular focus on marginalized students in elite schools -- those who enter these environments from different racial, socioeconomic, cultural and/or…