Division between academic and vocational education is a predominant feature of both upper secondary and higher education in Finland as well as in many other country contexts. This article focuses on a minority of higher education students, those who have not proceeded to higher education through the traditional academic track but have enrolled through the vocational route. We deploy the concept of institutional habitus and utilize Eurostudent VI survey data (N=7318) to analyse the backgrounds and study experiences of higher education students with different kinds of educational backgrounds. Our findings indicate that those enrolling through the vocational route are more often mature students from lower parental educational backgrounds. They have often completed a longer study path and began to see themselves as future higher education students later in their life course. There are also differences in how students with diverse educational backgrounds experience their sense of belonging to the higher education community. This paper focuses on Finland but has relevance for other European countries as the institutional structures and practices discussed in this paper are evident internationally.

在芬兰以及其他许多国家/地区，高中和高等教育的主要特征是学术教育与职业教育之间的隔is。本文关注的是少数高等教育学生，即那些没有通过传统学术途径进入高等教育但已通过职业途径入学的学生。我们采用机构习惯的概念，并利用Eurostudent VI调查数据（N= 7318），以分析具有不同教育背景的高等教育学生的背景和学习经历。我们的发现表明，通过职业途径入学的人通常是来自较低父母教育背景的成熟学生。他们通常完成了更长的学习道路，并开始将自己视为人生课程后期的未来高等教育学生。具有不同教育背景的学生在体验他们对高等教育社区的归属感方面也存在差异。本文的重点是芬兰，但对其他欧洲国家也具有重要意义，因为本文所讨论的体制结构和实践在国际上是显而易见的。