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Endnotes
1. SCMP is Hong Kong’s foremost English language daily newspaper.
2. This is according to a survey of 1,800 graduates between 1999 and 2001 (Yeung, 2003).
3. The HKCEE is the secondary school leaving exam, which determines sixth-form entrance. It is widely known to be highly competitive and extremely challenging. Many middle-class students fear failing this exam.
4. The British Council, along with IDP Australia, recently published a report forecasting global demand for IE (2004). In it, they use the term MESDCs to stand for the ‘Main English Speaking Destination Countries’, namely, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
5. Collins (1979) argued, in the context of the United States, that the academic attainment of children has maintained the same degree of correlation with the father’s occupation throughout the last 50 years. Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) made a similar point for France, claiming that between 1961 and 1966, which was a period of significant growth in higher education,
the structure of the distribution of educational opportunities relative to social class did indeed shift upwards, but it remained virtually unchanged in shape. In other words, the increased enrolment of 18–20 year olds was distributed among the different social classes in proportions roughly equal to those defining the previous distribution of opportunities. (pp. 91–93)
6. This debate is ongoing in the United Kingdom today. Alongside the implementation of tuition fees, the present government envisages 50% of university-age students attaining higher educational qualifications within the next few years, thereby transforming the symbolic meaning of the university degree.
7. Social reproduction is defined as ‘practices whereby individuals or families tend, unconsciously and consciously, to maintain or increase their assets and consequently to maintain or improve their position in the class structure’ (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 125).
8. Interestingly, whilst the literature on immigration for education is sparse, there has been significant interest in the relationship between immigrant credentials and labour market outcomes (e.g., Bauder, 2003; Boyer, 1996; Smart, 1994).