Aspects of string unification

Abstract We consider the phenomenological implications of a class of compactified string theories which naturally reproduces the flavour multiplet structure of the Standard Model. The implications for gauge unification depends on which of three possibilities is realised for obtaining light Higgs multiplets. The more conventional one leads to predictions for the gauge couplings close to that of the MSSM but with an increased value of the unification scale. The other two cases offer a mechanism for bringing the prediction for the strong coupling into agreement with the measured value while still increasing the unification scale. The various possibilities lead to different expectations for the structure of the quark masses.