Higher education as a public good and social cohesion: an exploratory study from a European comparative perspective

In the context of higher education’s growing significance and the persistence of inequalities in it, the article aims to further develop the understanding of higher education as a public good and to explore its association with social cohesion in a European comparative perspective. It shifts the focus from the content of higher education as a driver of its social contributions towards the role of higher education realisation in a given society as determining its social effects. Two new methodological instruments are developed: an index of higher education as a public good and an index of social cohesion. The analysis draws on data from Eurostat, the EUROSTUDENT Survey VII, and the European Social Survey, Round 10. The results indicate substantial cross-country differences in social cohesion and in the realisation of higher education as a public good. The article identifies a positive association between the realisation of higher education as a public good in a given country and the level of social cohesion there. From the four dimensions of higher education as a public good related to access, participation, completion, and the state’s commitment to its development, the strongest relationship is between the state’s commitment to its development and social cohesion.

在高等教育重要性日益凸显且其内部不平等现象持续存在的背景下，本文旨在进一步深化对高等教育作为公共物品（higher education as a public good）的认知，并从欧洲比较视角探讨其与社会凝聚力的关联。本文将研究焦点从“高等教育内容作为其社会贡献的驱动因素”，转向“特定社会中高等教育的实现程度如何决定其社会效应”。本研究开发了两项全新的方法论工具：高等教育公共属性指数（index of higher education as a public good）与社会凝聚力指数。本分析所用数据取自欧盟统计局（Eurostat）、欧洲学生调查第七轮（EUROSTUDENT Survey VII）以及欧洲社会调查第十轮（European Social Survey, Round 10）。研究结果显示，各国在社会凝聚力以及高等教育作为公共物品的实现程度上均存在显著的跨国差异。本文证实，一国高等教育作为公共物品的实现程度与该国社会凝聚力水平呈显著正相关关系。在与高等教育作为公共物品相关的四大维度——入学机会、参与度、完成率以及国家对其发展的投入——中，国家对高等教育发展的投入与社会凝聚力之间的关联最为紧密。