The impact of prior education on student success in higher education: how do different school types influence success in different fields of study?

The course of an individual’s education is shaped by a series of pivotal decisions. Each of these decisions has the potential to influence educational pathways and success. This study examines the impact of upper secondary school type on success in higher education in Austria. Austria offers a high degree of diversification in its educational system, with a range of academic and vocational pathways available from the age of 14. I introduce the concept of disciplinary counterparts which describes types of high schools and fields of study that share the same or a similar field of education. Based on administrative data of students, separate Cox proportional hazards models for 16 fields of study are fitted. The findings indicate that no school type has a consistently higher graduation probability across all fields of study. Students from business vocational high schools (VHS) and technical VHS have a higher graduation probability in fields of study that are considered disciplinary counterparts than students from other types of VHS and academic high schools. This study emphasises the significance of prior education and the necessity of providing support structures for students who change fields between the upper secondary and tertiary level to enhance success for all students.