Inequality of opportunity in selection procedures limits diversity in higher education: An intersectional study of Dutch selective higher education programs

RESEARCH ARTICLE Inequality of opportunity in selection procedures limits diversity in higher education: An intersectional study of Dutch selective higher education programs Lianne MulderID1,2*, Eddymurphy U. Akwiwu3, Jos W. R. Twisk3, Andries S. Koster4, Jan Hindrik Ravesloot5, Gerda Croiset6, Rashmi A. KusurkarID1,2,7, Anouk Wouters1,2 1 Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Research in Education, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2 LEARN! Research Institute for Learning and Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 3 Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam Public Health, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 4 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 5 Department of Medical Biology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 6 Wenckebach Institute for Education and Training, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, 7 Amsterdam Public Health, Quality of Care, Amsterdam, The Netherlands * l.m.a.mulder@amsterdamumc.nl Abstract Selection for higher education (HE) programs may hinder equal opportunities for applicants and thereby reduce student diversity and representativeness. However, variables which could play a role in inequality of opportunity are often studied separately from each other. Therefore, this retrospective cohort study conducts an innovative intersectional analysis of the inequality of opportunity in admissions to selective HE programs. Using a combination of

multivariable logistic regression analyses and descriptive statistics, we aimed to investigate 1) the representativeness of student populations of selective HE programs, as compared to both the applicant pool and the demographics of the age cohort; 2) the demographic back- ground variables which are associated with an applicant’s odds of admission; and 3) the intersectional acceptance rates of applicants with all, some or none of the background char- acteristics positively associated with odds of admission. The study focused on all selective HE programs (n = 96) in The Netherlands in 2019 and 2020, using Studielink applicant data (N = 85,839) and Statistics Netherlands microdata of ten background characteristics. The results show that student diversity in selective HE programs is limited, partly due to the wide- spread inequality of opportunity in the selection procedures, and partly due to self-selection. Out of all ten variables, migration background was most often (negatively) associated with the odds of receiving an offer of admission. The intersectional analyses provide detailed insight into how (dis)advantage has different effects for different groups. We therefore rec- ommend the implementation of equitable admissions procedures which take intersectional- ity into account. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292805 October 13, 2023 1 / 24 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Mulder L, Akwiwu EU, Twisk JWR, Koster AS, Ravesloot J, Croiset G, et al. (2023) Inequality

of opportunity in selection procedures limits diversity in higher education: An intersectional study of Dutch selective higher education programs. PLoS ONE 18(10): e0292805. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292805 Editor: Stefan Grosek, University Medical Centre Ljubljana (UMCL) / Faculty of Medicine, University Ljubljana (FM,UL), SLOVENIA Received: March 7, 2023 Accepted: September 28, 2023 Published: October 13, 2023 Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292805 Copyright: © 2023 Mulder et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: The OSF link (https:// osf.io/rwhg3/?view_only=