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The objective of this paper is an efficiency analysis concerning higher education systems in European countries. Data have been extracted from OECD data-sets (Education at a Glance, several years), using a non-parametric technique--data envelopment analysis--to calculate efficiency scores. This paper represents the first attempt to conduct such an efficiency analysis at a system-level in a cross-country comparison, while focusing only on tertiary education. The role of the public sector has also been analysed, by looking at the percentage of public spending devoted to higher education, and the way the public funds are used (channelled through private subsidies or directly assigned to institutions). It has been found that there is a small core of efficient units (e.g. Switzerland, United Kingdom), and that the influence of the public sector seems to play a role in determining efficiency scores. Many elements, related to critical policies, have also been analysed adopting a semi-parametric approach, to better explain the performances and efficiency differentials. Some key-policy implications have been derived. (Contains 12 notes, 11 tables, and 2 figures.)

In this paper, I assess labor market returns of a substantial skill upgrade: college enrollment of the vocationally trained, non-traditional students who do not have the formal entry requirement. Using propensity-score-adjusted regressions and the National Educational Panel Study, I find that these enrollees face high opportunity costs as they forgo earnings during the enrollment period. In the long-run, enrollees tend to obtain higher cumulative earnings than those who continue with a vocational-training-based career, but, there is a large degree of uncertainty. On the positive side, enrollees attain jobs with a higher reputation in society, hinting at sizable non-monetary returns.

Utilizing panel data and taking heterogeneity and persistent inefficiency into account, we show the limitations of standard efficiency analysis for higher education institutions. It is the first time that the concept of long-term inefficiency is considered in the analysis of traditional universities. This inclusion allows for more accurate estimations and more purposeful policy recommendations. The new specification improves the accuracy of the heterogeneity assumption and exposes inefficiency's tendency to be persistent. Thus, this paper finds that an efficiency increase can be achieved only if future measures aim at long-term conditions, which are presumably determined outside of individual institutions.

This paper is a numerical exploration of the following. Assume, in the European Union context, that decision-makers want to spend more on higher education via higher tuition fees, but also want payments to be deferred and income-contingent. There are several possible ways to achieve this. First, ask graduates to repay a fixed amount each year if their current net income is above a certain threshold - income-contingent loans (ICL). Second, ask former students to repay a fixed proportion of their income - human capital contracts (HCC). What are the respective distributional properties of these policies, and how do they compare with traditional financing through income taxation? This paper shows that, irrespective of major variations between countries with different higher education, labor market and fiscal structures, with income taxation non-graduates pay more that 50% of the increased higher-education costs. It also shows that the HCC and ICL have vertical equity properties because non-graduates do not pay, but also because the income contingency principle on which they are based redistributes income among heterogeneous graduates. Finally, the paper shows that HCC are the best way to take account of graduates' ability to pay. It also reveals, however, that the ICL can be made to be almost as equitable. (Contains 4 figures, 7 tables, 27 notes, and 1 appendix.) [Research for this article was supported by a grant from the Belgian Federal Government.]

This paper studies the determinants of academic success using a unique administrative data set of a German university. We show that high school grades are strongly associated with both graduation probabilities and final grades, whereas variables measuring social origin or income have only a smaller impact. Moreover, the link between high school performance and university success is shown to vary substantially across faculties. In some fields of study, the probability of graduating is rather low, while grades are quite good conditional on high school performance. In others, weaker students have a greater chance of graduating, but grades are more differentiated.

In higher education systems that are partly tax funded, a country might not be willing to subsidize the education of international students who might leave after graduation. This paper analyzes how student migration affects governmental decisions regarding the private funding share of higher education for 22 OECD countries for the period of 2000-2011. Based on fixed effects estimations, we find a significant positive correlation. This result is robust to changes in the specification, including estimations for country groups and for an expanded lag structure. The use of an instrumental variable approach supports a causal interpretation.

In this paper we analyze the effect of outside university work on time to first degree at German universities. The database is the "Absolventenpanel" 2001, a panel study conducted by the "Hochschul-Informations-System". Aiming to estimate the causal effect correctly, we apply a matching strategy based on the approach put forward by Rosenbaum and Rubin [(1983) "The Central Role of Propensity Score in Observational Studies for Causal Effects." "Biometrika" 70: 41-55]. The results of the matching approach reveal that simple prima facie results are upward biased but confirm that off-campus work has a prolonging effect on study duration.

This paper is a macro study on higher education R&D and its impact on productivity growth. I measure the social rate of return on higher education R&D in 17 high-income OECD countries using country level data on the percentage of gross expenditure on R&D performed by higher education, business, and government sectors over the period 1981-2006. Empirical results suggest that lagged R&D performed by higher education is positively affecting productivity growth in all specifications. The long-run propensity of productivity growth to R&D performed by the higher education sector is also found to be positive and significant while it is found be insignificant to business R&D. (Contains 13 notes, 3 figures and 8 tables.)

There is a large literature on the influence of institutional characteristics on student academic achievement. In contrast, relatively little research focusses on student time allocation and its effects on student performance. This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the effect of student time allocation on the average grade of undergraduate students, by gender, ability, and field of study. The results suggest that the time spent on attending courses is positively associated with grades for females, high-ability students, and students of Social Sciences and Sciences/Engineering. Spending time on self-study, on other study-related activities, or on working as a student assistant or tutor is positively correlated with grades for almost all students. Devoting time for attending tutorials or student work groups is negatively correlated with grades if the ability of students is below average or if they study Sciences/Engineering. Using a translog production function, the results indicate that spending time on courses, on self-study, and on other study-related activities are substitutes. However, time spent on courses and time spent on working as a student assistant or tutor are complements. (Contains 8 tables and 16 notes.)

This paper is a numerical exploration of the following. Assume, in the European Union context, that decision-makers want to spend more on higher education via higher tuition fees, but also want payments to be deferred and income-contingent. There are several possible ways to achieve this. First, ask graduates to repay a fixed amount each year if their current net income is above a certain threshold - income-contingent loans (ICL). Second, ask former students to repay a fixed proportion of their income - human capital contracts (HCC). What are the respective distributional properties of these policies, and how do they compare with traditional financing through income taxation? This paper shows that, irrespective of major variations between countries with different higher education, labour market and fiscal structures, with income taxation non-graduates pay more that 50% of the increased higher-education costs. It also shows that the HCC and ICL have vertical equity properties because non-graduates do not pay, but also because the income contingency principle on which they are based redistributes income among heterogeneous graduates. Finally, the paper shows that HCC are the best way to take account of graduates' ability to pay. It also reveals, however, that the ICL can be made to be almost as equitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing panel data and taking heterogeneity and persistent inefficiency into account, we show the limitations of standard efficiency analysis for higher education institutions. It is the first time that the concept of longterm inefficiency is considered in the analysis of traditional universities. This inclusion allows for more accurate estimations and more purposeful policy recommendations. The new specification improves the accuracy of the heterogeneity assumption and exposes inefficiency’s tendency to be persistent. Thus, this paper finds that an efficiency increase can be achieved only if future measures aim at long-term conditions, which are presumably determined outside of individual institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the effect of outside university work on time to first degree at German universities. The database is the ‘Absolventenpanel' 2001, a panel study conducted by the ‘Hochschul-Informations-System'. Aiming to estimate the causal effect correctly, we apply a matching strategy based on the approach put forward by Rosenbaum and Rubin [(1983) “The Central Role of Propensity Score in Observational Studies for Causal Effects.”Biometrika70: 41–55]. The results of the matching approach reveal that simple prima facie results are upward biased but confirm that off-campus work has a prolonging effect on study duration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Numerous eligible German students do not apply for heavily subsidized student aid (BAföG). Our theoretical model shows how imperfect information, risk aversion, debt aversion, and student income can incentivize rational students to abstain from an application. We use GSOEP data from 2001 to 2013 to simulate BAföG eligibility and find that in particular risk averse students with low income are discouraged if they have little information about the application procedure. Moreover, debt-averse students are more reluctant to apply. This suggests that a non-transparent and complicated student aid system disproportionally discourages poor students with little experience with the BAföG system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a theory of education curricula as horizontally differentiated by their paces. The pace of a curriculum and the preparedness of a student jointly determine the match quality of the curriculum for this student, so different students derive different benefits from learning under the same curriculum. Furthermore, a change in the curricular pace has distributional effects across students, benefiting some while hurting others. We test the model prediction using a quasi-natural experiment we call the G8 reform in Germany, which introduced a faster-paced curriculum for academic-track students. We find evidence consistent with our theory: While the reform improves students' test scores on average, such benefits are more pronounced for well-prepared students. In contrast, less-prepared students do not seem to benefit from the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using two representative samples of some 74,000 students and 11,000 graduates, respectively, we analyse the accuracy of students' wage expectations given their individual characteristics. We find that students are aware of the effects of most of their own characteristics, as a large number of determinants of expected and realised salaries do not differ significantly. However, important determinants of graduates' starting salaries are not consistent with students' expectations: Students seem to overestimate the presumably negative impact of age at graduation on starting salaries while at the same time they seem to underestimate the positive effects of grades and internships in renowned companies. Moreover, students seem not to be able to anticipate the effects of different job characteristics. Analyses of several subsamples confirm our main findings. Thus, students seem to focus too much on graduating fast while under-investing in more beneficial activities like preparing for exams and completing top internships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the short-term effects of the introduction of the Bachelor degree system in Germany, a change in degree regulations such that students need less time to earn a first degree, on college enrollment and dropout rates. We use variation in the timing of the reform at the university department level to identify the effects of the reform based on longitudinal administrative student data. Results differ between subjects, but for most subjects we find no significant effects on college enrollment or dropout rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally agreed that the funding base for German universities is inadequate and perhaps the time has come for serious consideration of the imposition of nontrivial tuition charges. This article compares conventional and income contingent loans (ICLs) for financing tuition fees at German universities. Two aspects are considered: the size of repayment burdens associated with mortgage-style loans, and the time structure of revenue to the government from a hypothetical ICL. We find that tuition fees could increase considerably with the use of an ICL system similar to policy approaches used in Australia, England and New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A multiproduct cost function is estimated for German higher education institutions using a panel of data from recent years. The use of panel data allows a random parameter stochastic frontier model to be estimated, and this delivers new insights on the extent to which differences in costs between institutions producing similar vectors of outputs may be due to different cost structures, on the one hand, and efficiency, on the other. The approach used here therefore resembles in some respects the non‐parametric methods of efficiency evaluation, since different loss functions attach to different universities. We report also on measures of average incremental cost of provision and on returns to scale and scope. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]