Vertical Stratification

This chapter considers national system stratification in high participation systems (HPS) of higher education. As demand for higher education increases, the social value of places within a system becomes more differentiated on a binary basis, between places offering exceptionally high positional value and others offering little value. Three prepositions about stratification are advanced. The first expands on the tendency to system bifurcation in HPS, with a small and elite ‘artisanal’ sector, mostly research-intensive universities, opposed to a larger and undistinguished ‘demand-absorbing’ sector. The second proposition identifies a set of drivers that push the bifurcation process. The third proposition recognizes that bifurcation is always incomplete and focuses on the contradictory dynamics of the ‘middle’ layer of higher education institutions in most HPS. Nationally specific factors that accentuate or limit stratification are identified.