Objective Over the last decades, modern societies have evolved into knowledge-based economies in which the role of education and the organisation of educational institutions have become important in all phases of the life course. More than in the past, today, education is a lifelong process where the individual acquires skills and competences in formal and non-formal learning settings throughout the entire life-span. Most empirical research on education is still based on cross-sectional studies and does not analyse education as a highly time-dependent, stepwise, and cumulative process. The aim of the project is therefore to study how individuals’ educational careers and competence trajectories unfold over the life course in relation to family background, educational institutions, workplaces, and private life events. The project takes an explicit life course perspective and utilises innovative data from the new German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The NEPS data will be compared with longitudinal data from five carefully selected additional countries. Based on its cross-national comparisons the project will do both, (a) establish the generality of findings and (b) study the specific impact of variations in educational institutional settings across countries.In substantive terms, the project is structured along four themes: (1) the quality of pre-school education and its short- and longer-term effects on individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds; (2) consequences of different models of differentiation in secondary school and their consequences on competence development and educational opportunities; (3) different vocational training trajectories and their impact on entry into the labour market; and (4) the interaction of lifelong learning and job careers. Fields of science social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementemployment Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-AG-SH2 - ERC Advanced Grant - Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviour Call for proposal ERC-2010-AdG_20100407 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant Coordinator EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE EU contribution € 1 883 145,00 Address Via dei roccettini 9 50014 Fiesole Italy See on map Region Centro (IT) Toscana Firenze Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Serena Scarselli (Ms.) Principal investigator Hans-Peter Blossfeld (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Italy EU contribution € 1 883 145,00 Address Via dei roccettini 9 50014 Fiesole See on map Region Centro (IT) Toscana Firenze Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Serena Scarselli (Ms.) Principal investigator Hans-Peter Blossfeld (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data OTTO-FRIEDRICH-UNIVERSITAET BAMBERG Participation ended Germany EU contribution € 605 215,00 Address Kapuzinerstrasse 16 96047 Bamberg See on map Region Bayern Oberfranken Bamberg, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Oliver Clarenz (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data