Equality of opportunity: Social determinants of university expectation amongst school attending adolescents in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

•Determinants of university expectation were both consistent and context-specific.•Bissau-Guinean girls were more likely than boys to expect university attendance.•Privately schooled students expressed higher expectation of university attendance than public ones.•Social and financial capital predicts expectation of university attendance.•Findings hint at cycles of intergenerational transmission of education.