Early entrance programme - A new agent in the Israeli higher education field

Since 2000, the number of Israeli high school students participating in early entrance programmes has increased dramatically from just a few to thousands, and they have become noteworthy agents in the Israel higher education field. By employing Bourdieu's field theory, several processes have been found to support the emergence of this new agent. At the inter-field level, it was found that forces from external fields adjust to the higher educational field's logic and set the stage for the new agent; at the intra-field level the involved actors were found to influence the indecisive ones; and at the habitus level, those with the right habitus and suitable capitals were found to establish the new agent, even against the will of more dominant ones. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.