Segregation of Residents with Tertiary Education in Sweden from 1990 to 2012. Issue 2 (3rd April 2019) - Nielsen, Michael Meinild
Abstract : There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people with tertiary education in Sweden, partly due to the governmental policy of making higher education more geographically available. In this study, we analyze how educational expansion and the governmental policy of offering tertiary education outside of old academic centers affected segregation patterns in 2012 compared to 1990. We analyze the spatial distribution of those with tertiary education using neighborhoods based on k -nearest neighbors and measure the segregation of residents with tertiary education using a multiscalar method. Additionally, we compare local labor market regions that include old, new, or no institutions of higher education. The results show an overall higher share of tertiary-educated people age twenty-five to sixty-four in all parts of Sweden in 2012 and a decrease in the levels of population-weighted mean segregation at all geographical scales. Segregation was mostly introduced on the city or city district level (for larger cities) and regional level rather than the neighborhood level. Segregation also decreased in all three types of labor market regions. The segregation patterns remained similar between 2012 and 1990, however, and a higher share of the population lived in segregated areas in 2012 compared to that in 1990.