Study efficiency of beginning students in Flanders: The impact of student and programme characteristics

Following the Bologna Declaration, some institutional reforms were implemented in Flemish higher education to broaden the access to higher education and to increase the number of graduates. In this study we analyse administrative data of all students enrolled in the Flemish higher education between academic year 2008-2009 and 2011-2012 to investigate whether more incoming students with a disadvantaged background and from non-general secondary education can be found in higher education and whether they are more inclined to enrol in higher education than before.
Results indicate that only the transition probabilities of persons living in the Walloon region, persons with a foreign nationality and Belgians who do not speak Dutch within the family have increased. Graduates from artistic and technical secondary education were more inclined to enter higher education in academic year 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 than in academic year 2008-2009 and 2011-2012, whereas graduates from vocational secondary education increasingly make the transition from secondary education to higher education.
Although we did not find evidence for an increase of socio-economically disadvantaged students in higher education between academic year 2008-2009 and 2011-2012 - the significant social differences of the transition probabilities remain stable - there is an increase of students from less typical backgrounds.