Migrant Background and Higher Education Participation in Europe. The Effect of the Educational Systems

The main aim of this article is to shed light on the extent to which differences in higher education participation between people with and without a migrant background of low/higher social origin can be explained by two macro-level characteristics of national educational institutions: stratification of the secondary school system and provision of alternative access to higher education. General assumptions are that people with a migrant background of low social origin benefit in low-stratified secondary school systems and in systems that provide alternative access to institutions of higher education more than their native peers in the same social stratum, owing to primary and secondary effects of migrant background. Database is a pooled dataset of the five waves of the European Social Survey. Results of logistic multi-level analyses indicate that a low-stratified secondary school system improves the probability of people with a migrant background/low social origin attaining a higher education degree. On the other hand, a stratified secondary school system reduces their chances regarding this educational stage. The provision of alternative access to an institution of higher education improves their likelihood of becoming higher education graduates.

Cognitive Interventions with Children with Special Needs - Transfer effects and multidisciplinary perspectives

Our last study with regularly developed children demonstrated a positive effect of working memory training on cognitive abilities. Building upon these findings, the aim of this multidisciplinary study is to investigate the effects of training of core functions with children who are suffering from different learning disabilities, like AD/HD, developmental dyslexia or specific language impairment. In addition to working memory training (BrainTwister), we apply a perceptual training, which concentrates on auditory-visual matching (Audilex), as well as an implicit concept learning task. We expect differential improvements of mental capacities, specifically of executive functions (working memory, attention, auditory and visual processing), scholastic abilities (language and mathematical skills), as well as of problem solving. With that, we hope to find further directions regarding helpful and individually adapted interventions in educational settings. Interested parties are invited to discuss and comment the design, the research question, and the possibilities in recruiting the subjects.