ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on more recent trends in higher education in the different countries. It then discusses the gender gap in higher education and the different patterns of expansion for men and women. The chapter analyzes the choice of university subject, and it is argued that the student's choice of subject may be interpreted as a secondary adaptation to changing labor market conditions. From a comparative perspective one can see that enrollment rates in higher education over the past three decades have followed different patterns of expansion in the various countries. In Japan the absolute difference between men and women in enrollment rates did not decline, but increased between 1960 and 1990. The mechanisms of social reproduction differ in a number of ways between Germany and the United States. The importance of the university for the reproduction of social classes can further be illustrated with an example from East Germany.
