The adults’ learning activity is usually said to be low in whole Central and Eastern Europe. The learning activity is greatly influenced by the present educational level in all learning forms. In Hungary the formal learning among adults appear mostly on a higher level, the percentage of the adult learners in the training grows parallel with the increase of the educational level. Thought, the changes in higher education (expansion, Bologna process) had an effect on the application tendency of adult students. The correspondent work schedule continues to remain the most attractive for those who would like to continue learning. This is especially true for the female students whose proportion shows a rapid increase, thus they became one of the engine of the learning expansion (Kozma 2004).

In Hungary the women first had the opportunity for higher education in 1896, but they could choose freely among the study fields only in 1946. Further on, they compensated for their initial backlog; nowadays they are over-represented in higher education, especially in part-time education. In our previous research we have examined the social background of men and women in higher education as well (Fényes, Pusztai 2006, Fényes 2010). We can trace that the males who are in minority in higher education has better cultural and material background, so their social mobility is smaller, than that of girls’. Therefore, besides their lower rate in higher education, they are in disadvantage compared to the girls in this respect as well. Our results can be supported by international studies (US), as well (Buchmann, DiPrete 2006).

The differences between men and women in terms of schooling have several reasons.  DiMaggio (1998) attributes the different performance of boys and girls to gender socialization processes. Boys directed towards cultural mobility are career-biased, whereas girls often reproduce their cultural capital in marriage. Leathwood (2006) examined the characteristics of successful and independent adult students. These students are usually men, in possession of masculine features, such as purpose- and success-bias and ambition. Female students, on the other hand, require consultation and guidance even when they are grown up.

Contrary to this, it is well known that females nowadays have better grades on all school levels. The cause of this is can be found in the different non-cognitive abilities. Boys are less capable of paying attention in school, and find it harder to work in a group. They are less helpful, and cannot go along with homework and other school materials as efficiently as girls. This may also affect the further study plans of boys in a bad way – via their worse school results. (Jacob 2002) Besides this, girls take part in extra-curricular activities more frequently (e.g. cultural activities, working at the student self-government) (Bae et al. 2000, Freeman 2004).

The females’ tertiary level efficiency is also greater (Buchmann, DiPrete, McDaniel 2008). According to Canadian data, there was a 7% difference for the advantage of females in higher education performance, and females proved significantly better in the fields of text comprehension, debating skills, and strategies for success. (Clifton et al. 2008)

In our earlier research among adult learners we found that those students who have family score significantly better results in their higher education than their single counterparts (Engler 2013). In country and regional data it could be revealed that those who raise children (whether they are men or women) are more successful in higher education, more active in learning, they do their studies more frequently and with better results than their counterparts. (Engler 2015)

Bae, Y., Choy, S., Geddes, C., Sable, J., Snyder,T. (2000): Trends in Educational Equity of Girls and Woman. Washington, D.C. : Natl. Cent. Educ. Stat. Buchmann, C., DiPrete, T. A. (2006): The Growing Female Advantage in College Completion: The Role of Family Background and Academic Achievement. American Sociological Review 71: 515-541 Buchmann, C., DiPrete, T. A., McDaniel, A. (2008): Gender Inequalities in Education. Annual Review of Sociology 34: 319-337. Clifton, R.A., Perry, R.P., Roberts, L. W., Peter, T. (2008): Gender, Psychosocial Dispositions and the Academic Achievement of College Students. Res. High. Educ. 49:684-703 DiMaggio, P. J. (1998). A kulturális tőke és az iskolai teljesítmény: A struktúrákban való részvétel hatása az egyesült államokbeli középiskolások jegyeire [Cultural capital and educational achievement: The effect of participation in the structures on the units of U.S. high school students] In: Róbert Péter (szerk.): Társadalmi mobilitás. Hagyományos és új megközelítések Budapest: Új Mandátum Könyvkiadó. 198-220 Engler A. (2013). Career Path and Private Life in the Context of Lifelong Learning. In: Gergely Angyalosi-Ákos Münnich-Gabriella Pusztai (eds.): Interdisciplinary Research in Humanities. Nitra, Constantine the Phiosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Central European Studies. 119-133. Engler, A.: The effect of student’s commitment on career. In: Gabriella Pusztai – Tímea Ceglédi eds. Professional Calling in Higher Education. Nagyvárad – Budapest, Partium Press – Personal Problems Solution – Új Mandátum Könyvkiadó, 2015. 167-175. Fényes, H., Pusztai, G. (2006): Férfiak hátránya a felsőoktatásban egy regionális minta tükrében. [The Disadvantage of Men in Higher Education in the Reflection of a Regional Sample] Szociológiai Szemle (16)/1. 40-59. Fényes, H (2010): A nemi sajátosságok különbségének vizsgálata az oktatásban. A nők hátrányainak felszámolódása? [Gender Differences in Education. Decreasing Disadvantages of Women.] Debreceni Egyetemi Kiadó, Debrecen Freeman, C. E. (2004): Trends in Educational Equity of Girls and Woman 2004 National Center for Education Statistics U.S. Department of Education Jacob, B. A. (2002): Where the Boys aren’t: Non-cognitive Skills, Returns to School and the Gender Gap in Higher Education. Econ. Educ. Rev. 21: 589-598 Kozma, T. (2004). Kié az egyetem? [Whose is the university?] Új Mandátum Könyvkiadó, Budapest. Leathwood, C. (2006): Gender, Equity and the Discourse of the Independent Learner in Higher Education. Higher Education, 52(4), 611-633.