Date: Wednesday, 10 December 2025, 13:00 -14:00
Speaker: Jani Erola, Professor of Sociology at University of Turku
Register here
Education is often seen as Europe’s strongest tool for ensuring opportunity and social mobility. Yet despite decades of expansion in access and attainment, large gaps in outcomes persist across generations, regions, and social groups. What can education truly achieve—and where does its power to equalise life chances reach its limits?
This online seminar marks the launch of the Mapineq White Paper, a major synthesis of comparative research on social mobility and inequality of opportunity across Europe. The event will explore how education systems shape—and sometimes fail to overcome—social divides from early childhood to adulthood.
The speaker will also discuss what the evidence tells us about the effectiveness of education policies, how family background continues to influence outcomes, and what complementary measures are needed to build a fairer and more resilient Europe.
Acknowledgement:
This event is part of the Mapineq project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No. 101061645 (www.mapineq.eu). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Read more about the Mapineq project here and follow the project on X and LinkedIn. You can also register to receive Mapineq's bi-annual newsletter here.