Social Equity in Higher Education – Mission (Im)Possible?

1. Pepka Boyadjieva Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge Bulgarian Academy of Sciences AUBG, April 20, 2011 Social Equity in Higher Education – Mission (Im)Possible?

2. The problem Michael Young, 1958. The Rise of the Meritocracy. An Essay on Education and Equality The problem: Relation between meritocracy and social justice Two questions: • What is the meaning of social justice in higher education and how can it be achieved? • How can quality and social equity be harmonized in higher education?

3. Main topics • European policies regarding access to higher education • Reflection on prior experience: • The social engineering of the Bulgarian communist regime • The “Affirmative action” programmes • Principle of equality of educational opportunities • Social dimension of higher education – academic and/or social problem?

4. European policies regarding access to higher education • Berlin Communication, 2003 - social dimension of HE put forward implicitly as a problem • London meeting, May 2007 • A turning point in the European understanding of the goals of HE • Social dimension of HE - defined as one of the priorities • Two of the objectives pose real challenges: 1) to achieve a composition of students which reflects the diversity of the social composition of each country’s population; 2) the equality of educational opportunities should not be limited to the legislative abolition of discrimination, but should be interpreted as “effective equality” through the targeted support of the defined underprivileged groups in society • Leuven meeting, April 2009 - “social dimension: equitable access and completion” is a main priority for the European HE for the next decade

5. Reflection on prior experience: The social engineering of the Bulgarian communist regime • For the new political regime admission to HE was a key state and party problem • The Higher Education Act of 1948 – autonomy of HEIs abolished • Basic function of the socialist system for admission to HE – to turn admission into a mechanism for change and regulation of the social composition of the intelligentsia • Mechanisms of social engineering • Forms of discrimination • System of privileges

6. Forms of discrimination • The purge • At the end of the academic 1947/1948 - 3464 students were expelled, the largest number being from the Faculty of Law at the Sofia University - 1029 • The second wave of the purge in 1956 – 500 students expelled • The bans • 1948 - “people with fascist and other anti-national forms of conduct should not be admitted to higher education” • The National Front notes

7. A National Front note – an example “The individual. . . finished the Bourgas girls’s secondary school in 1946. She had first studied in an Italian school. . . From 1942 to 1944 she was member of the “Legion” and part of its leadership. Only after the Union of People’s Youth was created did she become its member in 1947. . . She has negative attitude to all actions organized by the National Front. She is a girl with a low moral profile, and she does not have a good reputation. People who know her said: “If she went to Sofia and graduated from the university, she would not bring any benefit to society.” She is a member of the Union of People’ Youth but she shows no activity. Through her membership in the Union she tries to hide her reactionary views. Her parents are not members of any political party or mass organization. . . They have their own house at 90 Gladston Str.5.1.1948.”(CSA, Fund 143, in. 1, ar. Un. 86, sh. 88)

8. The system of privileges • Direct social privilege - admitted as students without competition and outside the plan • Active fighters against fascism and capitalism, the children of those who fell in the anti-fascist struggle and the heroes of socialist labour (1960) • Workers’ preparatory courses– quotas of 15-20% • Introduced in 1950; reinstated in 1973; preserved until 1989 • Criteria for the selection and admission of course participants “production experience, social background, production activity, social and political activity, marks from the last grade the applicant finished and general health condition”

9. Indirect social privileges (quotas) • Privileges based on: • Social background • Socio-political status– 1959-1987 • Children of active fighters against fascism and capitalism compete for 10% of the admission spots within the plan and for 15% of them outside the plan • Production experience • Territorial indicator • Ethnic background – 1955-1964 • The privilege to move beyond the rules

10. Scope of privileges • In 1971 first-year students of workers’ and peasants’ background were 73,8% of the admitted ones • Regulation of 1984 – more than 50% admitted on the basis of privileges • 20% - for people of workers’ or peasants’ background, finishing the 8-months preparatory courses • 10% - for young people with 2-years production experience • 10% - for children of active fighters against fascism and capitalism • 10% - for the needs of certain enterprises and municipalities • In the Regulation of 1989 only 3 types of privileges • without competition (outside the plan) - the heroes of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria and the heroes of socialist labour • targeted planned places for the needs of certain enterprises and municipalities • places for people of workers’ or peasants’ background, finishing the 8-months preparatory courses

11. Result of social engineering: Expansion of higher education Number of students: 1939-2006

12. Result of social engineering: “Political geography” of higher education

13. Result of social engineering: Social composition of the student body: 1952-1982

14. Result of social engineering: controlled social mobility Party affiliation of people with higher education

15. Result of social engineering: quality dimensions • “More=worse”: lower quality of higher education • Demoralizing effects on society – gradual transformation of privileges into “personal benefits with public justification” • Fear and seduction: admission policies as a means of getting society under control • Corruption and moral degradation of society

16. Reflection on prior experience: The “Affirmative Action” programmes • Arguments in support of preferential policies: • compensation for injustices suffered in the past • mechanism for the creation of diverse social environment • creation of role models for minority groups • challenging of existing social stereotypes • Arguments against preferential policies: • reverse discrimination • stimulate mediocrity and incompetence • increase the syndrome of inferiority in the minority groups • difficult to establish and justify the borders of implementation of preferential policies

17. Equality of educational opportunities • Liberal concept • excludes the use of preferential policies in the form of quotas • allows "soft" forms of support - scholarships, preparatory courses, active advertising campaigns, incentives for universities • Arguments against the liberal concept: • A radical meritocratic society would create deep inequalities of the outcomes, which would threaten social cohesion(Anthony Giddens) • Meritocracy is the replacement of one principle of stratification with another(Daniel Bell) - "fair meritocracy” • Meritocracy is a democratic idea, but is unfair(John Rawls) - "difference principle“: the inequalities by birth are undeserved and should be compensated • Meritocracy replaces the inheritance lottery with a genetic one (Karabel) - for free admission

18. The social dimension of higher education – academic and/or social problem? • “And yet freedom will not suffice. . . You cannot free a man who has been shackled in chains for years, to take him to the starting line of the race and tell him “You are free to compete with others”, and to believe that you have done the right thing. It is not just enough to open windows of opportunity. All our citizens must be able to go through these windows. . . We do not strive only for… equality as a right and as a theory, but as a fact and as an outcome"(President Lyndon Johnson, 1967) • A real change in the social dimension of HE requires: • long-term strategies • both specific social policies outside the sphere of education and reforms in the primary and secondary educational system

19. Thanks for your attention!