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This article is part (and the outcome,) of my research on the inequality of access to Higher Education in Greece. Al) main focus will be the higher education entry National Examinations (`Genikes Exetasis,). Although my main data refer to the case of the metropolitan area of Athens, in this paper I will deal with inequalities of access to higher education at national level. I intend to show the differentiation, not just between, or within, the various higher education establishments and their respective disciplines (`hierarchisation of knowledge), but also between the various occupations in the labour market (`hierarchisation of occupations',). This will be done, after a brief reference to the international debates on the equally of opportunities in schools, the evolution of the Greek school system, and the relation between the structure of the school system and the main characteristics of the Greek job market. By using national statistics, I will construct some `Indices of Educational Opportunities' that show the patterns of `distribution' of students in the various universities and oilier higher education institutes. The students will be categorised according to their parents' occupation and educational level (i.e. father's occupational category, and father's and mother's level of education). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of literature focuses on choice of studies in the context of policies on widening participation in higher education and graduates' difficulties in the labour market. Drawing on research findings showing a relationship between social class and choice of studies, we conducted a qualitative study on first-year medical students in a Greek university. The research aim was to examine the seemingly paradoxical choice of medical school, given the contradiction between the great investment in time, effort and money required, and inflation of medical graduates and high unemployment levels. Apart from the impact of social class, findings suggest that choice is also strongly influenced by the broader context of the social and financial relations, and the education system. We argue that any attempts to analyse choice processes need to accommodate the specific national characteristics and peculiarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]