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The purpose of this study was to compare student performance on two proctored quizzes and one practice test taken in paper-based or computer-based testing mode using an equal number of algorithmic, conceptual, and definition questions to examine the effect of testing mode when students take multiple tests in class. Data were collected from 221 students enrolled in a general chemistry course at a Midwestern university. After learning the material in lecture, students completed two quizzes: Quiz 1 and Quiz 2. One quiz was delivered on paper and another quiz was taken on computer. Each quiz tested student understanding of different chemistry concepts and the quizzes were proctored on different days. Several days after Quiz 2, students took a practice test that tested the knowledge of Quiz 1 and Quiz 2 with different yet similar questions, and again, the testing mode of the practice test was either paper-and-pencil or computer. After each quiz and the practice test, students received feedback on their performance. Differences in performance between the quizzes and the practice test were measured with normalized gains and the differences between the normalized gains for each condition were analyzed using an Analysis of Variance. The results showed no significant testing mode effects among the four conditions overall, or for algorithmic, conceptual, or definition type of questions. Altogether, the results of the present study do not provide evidence to suggest that instructors need to be concerned about testing mode (paper versus computer) when designing and administering chemistry tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sexual minorities face a more challenging school environment than straight students. • Gay boys experience greater discrimination and bullying than other student groups. • Sexuality and gender are intricately linked. • Intersectionality involves interrelationships among identities and contexts. • Strategies can be implemented to build resilience in LGBTQ+ students. The focus of this narrative literature review paper is the pre-tertiary education experiences of gay boys. Sexual-minority youth tend to experience more unfavorable classroom environments than heterosexual youth, and some evidence indicates that the climate and its consequences are harsher for boys than girls. However, discussions of issues for boys in school largely ignore sexual-minority boys. Therefore, this paper focuses on the education experiences of and outcomes for gay boys. Feminist theory frames the research and perspectives presented in this paper, which have been synthesized from main ideas identified in recent academic literature. This theory gives strong attention to intersectionality, one example of which is the inextricable connection between sexuality and gender, a foundational concept for this paper. The paper concludes with implications for practice regarding the education experiences of gay boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of tertiary education expansion on fertility outcomes of women past the usual college-entry age. We show that the tertiary education expansion in Taiwan led to a decrease in fertility for these mature women both with and without tertiary education, suggesting that the effect did not operate through education alone. Our findings also highlight two empirical concerns with previous studies: (i) the mis-classification of women past college-entry age as "unexposed" to the expansion in the difference-in-differences studies, and (ii) the potential violation of exclusion restriction when using the expansion as an instrument for female education in the instrumental variable studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores whether mother tongues should be given a sustainable chance to thrive as mediums of instruction in tertiary education in Bangladesh and China. In the Bangladesh context, four universities located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, were included in this qualitative research study. Eight teachers of English, law, general education, and business participated in interviews. In the Chinese context, two international universities located in China's Greater Bay Area (GBA) were also chosen for study. Six teachers were observed in their classrooms to understand their classroom practices and were interviewed to determine their perceptions about implementing mother-tongue instruction in classroom interactions. The data show that teachers are aware that English, on the one hand, limits students' learning, fosters improper learning strategies, and marginalises them in academia while on the other hand, compromises students' opportunities to develop critical thinking skills. However, they do not believe introducing the mother tongue will prompt significant changes in higher education learning and teaching. The paper concludes that introducing mother-tongue-based translanguaging that challenges the monolingual biases towards English seems a utopian ideal that may take a long time to be accepted and implemented in these two Asian countries. However, fostering mother-tongue-based translanguaging by recognising the need for the mother tongue within a broad linguistic repertoire that promotes a de-colonising pedagogy and equality in education could be a promising approach in tertiary education in the Global South. • The paper explores whether mother tongues should be given a sustainable chance to thrive as a medium of instruction in tertiary education in Bangladesh and China. • Teachers in higher education in Bangladesh do not believe that introducing the mother tongue in higher education will prompt significant changes in learning and teaching. • Students' inadequate literacy and the lack of textbooks in their mother tongues may hinder their learning and knowledge construction in higher education in Bangladesh. • In the Chinese context, the content teacher thought that EMI teachers may face challenges in communicating their mindset and values to their students. • Introducing Mother-tongue-based translanguaging may take a long time to be accepted and implemented. • Fostering mother-tongue-based translanguaging that promotes a de-colonising pedagogy and equality in education could be a promising approach in tertiary education in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even with enhanced secondary education in Africa, a large number of secondary school graduates lack decent work opportunities and end up pursuing tertiary education. However, Africa struggles to provide tertiary education to meet the increasing demand. This study focuses on graduates from a day secondary school in a rural area in western Kenya. Students from vulnerable backgrounds, even with high academic achievements, are forced to join government-appointed universities, even if they are unpopular and low in quality. In contrast, students from privileged backgrounds access popular universities even if their achievements are not comparable with government-sponsored students. • This study focuses on graduates from a day secondary school in a rural area in western Kenya. • Kenya has registered one of the fastest growths in terms of educational opportunities. • This paper qualitatively reveals how difficult it is for poor students to progress to tertiary education. • For poor students, money, instead of academic achievement, can be a qualification to access to better education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study looks at the growth of eExams in five countries. An eExam is defined as 'a timed, supervised, summative assessment conducted using each candidate's own computer running a standardised operating system' (eExam, 2017), but local interpretations varied significantly. The literature revealed five main areas for the study: the scale of eExam adoption; assessment integrity (student cheating/security/reliability); eExam accessibility for students with disabilities; eExam architecture and affordances for assessing higher order thinking; and inter-sectoral relationships between universities and schools concerning eExam assessment environments. The methodology was qualitative and interpretist, using the constant comparison method from grounded theory for analysis (Corbin & Strauss, 1990, p. 9). Data were collected through interviews with 17 key individuals and from observations at sites which were purposively identified from the literature as diverse in eExam experience. The results provided a thick and robust description of practical eExam implementation. Adoption scales varied from less than 1% to 40% of examinations. Assessment integrity shared common concerns with pen-on-paper exams, and had some additional features, but were overall no more or less secure. eExams offered access to students with disabilities. The relationship between eExam architectures, affordances and assessment of higher order thinking was complex and contested, closely linked with perceived barriers and enablers. The quality of inter-sectoral relationships with respect to eExams was found to be generally poor. Academic workload reduction was a major enabler of eExams, and the policy drivers for curriculum transformation through improved affordances poorly articulated. Hurdles included lack of prior student experience of eExams. A clear enabler was the national adoption of a pathway to replacing pen-on-paper exams with eExams. Highlights • Provides a rich description of eExams in schools and universities in five countries at a very early stage of adoption. • Identifies enablers and hurdles for the expansion of eExams. • Describes eExam adoption scales, assessment integrity, accessibility, affordances and inter-sectoral relationships. • Reveals tension between the administrative conveniences and pedagogical affordances of eExams. • Shows there are insufficient data on whether curricula being transformed by the adoption of eExams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence of the importance of liquidity constraints in a tuition-free post-secondary education setting in Colombia. We exploit exogenous variation in the relative cost of tuition-free vocational education from a nationwide cash transfer program. We show that eligibility for a USD 136 grant every other month increases enrollment by up to 12 percentage points. We also show that men with larger returns to education are more affected by the availability of grants, which is consistent with the presence of liquidity constraints. However, we do not find the same for women. This paper highlights the importance of non-tuition costs and discusses whether individuals under-invest in their human capital when free education is available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical thinking is at the heart of tertiary education, and is also a key focus of university preparation courses. In particular, developing the ability to read − and to read critically – is vital for aspiring university students. Courses in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) generally include some attention to critical reading, but how this is conceived and realised varies considerably. This paper reports on the findings of an ethnographic study of three EAP teaching-learning contexts in Australia and relates the pedagogy of these classrooms to theories of critical thinking identified by Davies and Barnett (2015) . All three EAP contexts focused to some extent on cognitive skills such as identifying main ideas, but teachers differed in their approach to criticality and attention to critical pedagogy. In some classes, students appeared to take a performative role (simply ‘doing’ the task); however, in other classes students demonstrated a more intense engagement with the content of their reading – an indication of a developing critical disposition which could serve them well at university and beyond. The paper argues that critical reading pedagogy can be realised in different ways, but that nurturing students’ critical dispositions, in particular, requires delicate scaffolding to support their development as critical meaning-makers. Such scaffolding pushes students to develop deeper skills and criticality, yet enables them to feel secure in the transcultural contact zones in which they are participating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Who is mostly likely to contribute to electoral-district level candidates in Canadian federal elections? This paper uses data from the Elections Canada Political Financing Database of Contributions made to individual candidates in the 2015, 2019 and 2021 general elections, matched to socio-demographic data from the 2016 census, at the Dissemination Area level. We find that the areas that are most likely to have donors are older, with higher median income and higher percentage of the population with post-secondary education. The data also further supports previous findings from the Canadian context suggesting that areas with a greater percentage of visible minorities of South and Southeast Asian origin are most likely to donate to local campaigns. When turning to overall contribution amounts, we find that the effects of these socio-demographic variables are somewhat weakened (though not eliminated). This points to a major difference between areas producing donors vs. those without donors, rather than between the levels of donations in a small geographic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a nationally representative sample from the 2004–09 Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) survey to examine the effect of education tax benefits on college completion. The paper employs a propensity score matching approach to correct for differences between eligible and ineligible students. Results suggest that tax benefits increase the likelihood of completing a college degree by 8 percentage points. The effect of tax benefits is largest for students who attended private and four-year institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent development of social networking brought new opportunities not only for socializing and marketing but also for knowledge sharing and learning. As the social computing technology is relatively new, a review of literature revealed lack of research on the impact of ways of using social networking sites (SNS) on knowledge sharing and learning among tertiary students. This paper aims to empirically examine the various categories of SNS use including: chatting and online discussion, creating knowledge and information content, file sharing, and enjoyment and entertainment by tertiary students at a University in Saudi Arabia. It will investigate the impact of these categories of SNS use on knowledge sharing and learning performance. We adopted a cross sectional survey questionnaire for data collection, and received 308 valid responses from a sample of students that include graduates and undergraduates. The results show that there are significant positive relationships between both chatting and online discussion and file sharing and knowledge sharing, and entertainment and enjoyment with student learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations and implications of this study, along with directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analyze the impact of inward FDI on countries' economic complexity • We use a panel Granger causality and a panel VAR approach • Inward FDIs Granger cause economic complexity, and not viceversa • The short-run impact of FDI on economic complexity is very small • Knowledge-intensive greenfield FDI Granger cause economic complexity in developing countries In this paper, we assess whether attracting higher amounts of FDI induces a greater level of economic complexity in a country. Using a panel of 117 countries and 22 years, from 1995 to 2016, we test for the causal relationship between inward FDI and economic complexity using a panel VAR approach and Impulse Response Functions. We find that accumulating a higher stock of inward FDI per capita Granger-causes a greater economic complexity in a country, and not vice versa. This causal effect is very small, however, and occurs only in countries with above-average levels of GDP per capita, tertiary education, tertiarization or financial development. We also find that only greenfield FDIs Granger-cause economic complexity in developed countries. Finally, knowledge-intensive greenfield projects are the only type of FDI that Granger-cause complexity in a less developed country, but the estimated effect is near zero and disappears after two years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we model the non-linear effect of FDI on disaggregated levels of human capital development in selected African countries. Our sample is based on a panel data consisting of nine African countries from 2000 to 2017. To ensure robustness in our analysis, we employed a GMM instrumental variable estimation technique with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors to control for endogeneity, sectional and temporal dependency. The result indicates that different level of human capital reported mixed findings. The effect of FDI on primary education is characterised by an inverted U-shaped relationship, whereas tertiary education exhibits a U-shaped pattern. Conversely, the relationship between FDI and secondary education is insignificant. The non-linear term of FDI indicates that there is a turning point before/after which the human capital-augmenting hypothesis is supported. Policy implications drawn from this study suggest FDI can be used as a catalyst to augment primary and tertiary education enrolment rates, skills enhancement and human capital development. However, not all levels of FDI will result in positive gains. The optimal effect of FDI depends on the quantity of FDI before/after the turning point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Education for sustainable development (ESD) is gaining increased attention in tertiary education. According to the literature, ESD affects not only the content of education, but also its process and outcomes. This requires a new learning culture based on participative processes and new teaching techniques. Among the different methods and techniques as typologized by Figueirò and Raufflet (2015), action and experiential learning methods offer a promising approach for teaching sustainability. However, no previous studies have empirically addressed the effects of this approach on sustainability learning outcomes. For this reason, with the objective of understanding the potentials and limitations of such methodology, this paper presents an exploratory study of a teaching experience based on the action and experiential learning approach, and in particular on the simulation game technique. A pre-game and post-game survey were developed to evaluate the students' learning experience of a business game focused on sustainability (napuro). The study was carried out at two universities in Switzerland. The results suggest that the action learning approach, and in particular, simulation and gaming, may successfully generate cognitive and affective learning outcomes which in turn may affect students' development of critical thinking skills. In addition, the study suggests the central role of motivation in influencing students' learning outcomes. The game seems to be more effective in influencing the student's expertise in the subject and their attitudes toward sustainability when the student records a high level of motivation to attend the course and interest in the subject before the game. Highlights • The article presents and evaluates a new teaching technique for ESD based on the so-called action learning approach. • The results suggest that napuro affects attitudes toward sustainability and develop their critical-thinking skills. • The study highlights the central role of motivation and personal interests in influencing students' learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Previous studies document that adverse labor market conditions, proxied by the unemployment rate, stimulate post-secondary enrollment. This paper shows for the first time that unemployment not only affects enrollment but also changes the composition of the student body and students' educational path, with important consequences for intergenerational mobility. Results show that unemployment stimulates university enrollment especially among individuals with highly educated parents. This has consequences for educational inequality. Students are also more likely to choose university over community college when unemployment rises. Thus, labor market conditions affect the type of education and skills that students acquire. Further, unemployment is shown to affect the decision of workers to return to school and complete their unfinished studies or acquire additional training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an investigation on the mode choice behaviour of post-secondary students commuting to school in the city of Toronto. It uses a large-scale dataset collected through a web-based travel diary survey among all students of four universities (seven campuses) in Toronto. Multinomial logit (MNL), nested logit (NL) and cross-nested logit (CNL) models are used for investigating home to school trips mode choices. In terms of goodness-of-fit, the CNL outperforms the MNL and NL model. Furthermore, the proposed CNL model shows fundamental improvements over the MNL and NL models by capturing non-proportional substitution patterns. Empirical models reveal that the mode choice behaviour of female students who travel to downtown campuses differ significantly from female students who travel to suburban campuses. Female students who travel towards downtown are more transit and active mode oriented than those who travel towards outside of downtown. This study also shows mobility tool ownerships (i.e., transit pass, car and bike ownership) and age groups have distinctive influences on student's mode choice behaviour. Using the CNL model as a tool for policy scenario analysis, it is found that public transit users are highly sensitive to changes in travel time. In the context of policy implementation, if bike and ride mode is encouraged during peak hour commuting, there is likely a large amount of latent demand for this mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The screening theory of education argues that education does not necessarily enhance worker’s productivity, but serves only as a signal of worker’s pre-existing ability. Empirical studies found that the mere possession of a diploma increases wages disproportionately than without it, or the so-called sheepskin effects. Using a sample of urban non-agricultural wage workers in the Philippines, this paper finds substantial sheepskin effects for holding a tertiary diploma, even after controlling for individual heterogeneity. While returns to tertiary education are lower in the competitive (private) sector, there is evidence of diverging age-earnings profiles between tertiary and secondary graduates, indicating a productive value higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from the central admission system for Danish post-secondary education merged with other administrative data. Applicants for admission may rank up to eight educational programmes, and I focus on first-time applicants whose first-choice are bachelor's degree university programmes with restricted admission, i.e. with an admission threshold defined in terms of the grade point average obtained from upper secondary school. Using threshold crossing as an instrument for admission in a regression discontinuity design, I find that being admitted to the first-choice programme increases the probability of completing a master's degree in that subject by about 20 percentage points. There is no clear evidence that being admitted to one of the higher degree programmes listed on the application has an effect on years of education or the probability of completing a master's degree (although point estimates indicate small positive effects). There is no robust statistically significant effect on earnings 11 years after application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a development project aimed at providing Drop Box systems for non-eLearning-based self-financing Tertiary programmes with due consideration on the speed, efficiency, usability and user acceptance for the stakeholders including students, teaching faculties, programme administrative staff. During the development process, different stakeholders were involved covering students, program administrative staff and teaching faculties. The result was very favorable due to the speed of access, the clarity of design based on newest Microsoft Rapid Application Prototyping platform plus latest Microsoft Database Management system, and the User Interface design technique targeted primarily for smart phone and other smart device access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about the rate of postsecondary attainment in the US compared to the projected education requirements of future jobs has prompted a range of policy and practice interventions aimed at barriers to postsecondary access and success. As both a largely local phenomenon and a complex systems issue, improving postsecondary attainment for all students has proved to be a daunting challenge. Financial interventions have been a key focus of reform. One of these, place-based scholarships, attends both to the primarily local nature of college going and to the complex set of challenges that cross educational and workforce sectors. In this paper, we describe place-based scholarship programs that are currently catalyzing within-sector reforms and cross-sector coherence building. We discuss policy implications associated with the long-term sustainability of place-based scholarships as a strategy for improving college access and success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper estimate the causal effects of increased course choice flexibility in upper secondary school. • We use a difference-in-discontinuities design. • We estimate a large impact on students course-taking behavior. • More flexibility increased students probability to enroll in, and earn a degree from, tertiary education. • Students with low socio-economic status were not negatively affected. This paper estimates the causal impact of an upper secondary curriculum reform in Sweden that increased students' course-taking flexibility in year 2000. In the most popular upper secondary program, it led to a significant decrease in mandatory mathematics requirements. Using administrative Swedish data, we estimate the causal impact of the reform on tertiary education outcomes and expected earnings using a differences-in-discontinuity identification strategy. The method compares students born immediately before and after the cutoff date. The inclusion of students born in neighboring non-reform cutoff years enables us to disentangle the school starting age effect from the unconfounded effect of the reform. We find no negative effects of the reduced mathematics requirements. Rather, we find a positive effect of the reform on students' probability of enrolling in, and earning a degree from, tertiary education. Our heterogeneity analysis suggests that relatively disadvantaged students were not negatively affected by the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence suggests the effectiveness of robotics as a learning complementary tool in tertiary education. In this context, some experiences benefited from the link between educational practice and theory. However, a comprehensive survey on initiatives that explores this link in universities and colleges is missing. This work systematically reviews quantitatively assessed robots applications, grounded in learning theories, in tertiary institutions. By applying a protocol review in different bibliographic databases, 15 papers were selected for synthesis. As a result, experiences developing non-robotic concepts and skills in universities and colleges were found. In most of the cases, Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate courses were involved. In addition, empirical results reported by the selected publications suggest that some literature proposals can be useful in practice. Based on the panorama obtained, this work also points out future directions for practitioners and researchers in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost 40% of Canadian youth who left postsecondary education in 1999 had returned two years later. This paper investigates the extent to which schooling discontinuities affect post-graduation starting wages and whether the latter are influenced by the reasons behind these discontinuities. We use data from the 2007 National Graduate Survey. We apply Lewbel’s (2012) generated instruments approach. The source of identification is a heteroscedastic covariance restriction of the error terms that is a feature of many models of endogeneity. We also perform two-stage quantile regressions. We find a positive effect on wages of temporary interruption for men who held a full-time job during their out-of-school spell(s). Both men and women witness a wage decrease if their interruption depends on health issues. Women bear a wage penalty if their interruption is due to a part-time job, to lack of money, or is caused by reasons other than health, work, and money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More students than ever borrow to finance post-secondary education. However, students receive little information during the course of their college career that encourages them to recalibrate loan amounts and to consider academic and borrowing decisions jointly. This paper exploits a natural experiment to understand how targeted information can change student behavior. We study a large public university where students above a given debt threshold received letters with bundled information on student loan debt and effectively completing college, while students below the threshold did not. Using a difference-in-difference strategy and administrative data on individual-level academic records and borrowing, the intervention did not change borrowing in the subsequent semester but improved academic outcomes: credits completed and GPAs increased in the subsequent semester and retention rates increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking as its point of departure the rapid expansion in the proportion of students graduating with a university entrance diploma (Abitur) in Germany, this paper adds to research on the mechanisms and effects of academic educational expansion, a worldwide phenomenon in the 20th and 21st century. Drawing on Boudon's theory of primary and secondary effects of social origin, we seek to understand if the educational expansion went along with a decreasing or persisting role of social background. Therefore, we analyze educational inequalities in two respects: first, in the transition from primary school to the academic track (Gymnasium) leading to the Abitur and, second, in the transition to tertiary education after academic upper secondary education. The study is based on two student cohorts (initial N = 13,026 and N = 13,873) who obtained university entrance diplomas in 2005 (cohort 1) and 2011/2012 (cohort 2) in the school system of the federal state of Hamburg (Germany). These cohorts were assessed during secondary education between 1996 (start of cohort 1) and 2012 (end of cohort 2). Employing the KHB decomposition method, we break the total effect of social background down into the relative importance of achievement differentials (primary effects) and educational decisions (secondary effects). Our findings indicate no changes in the total effects of social background and thus suggest that educational inequalities related to social origin persisted in both of the transitions we studied. However, when comparing both cohorts, we noted a clear decrease in secondary effects regarding transitions to the academic secondary track, meaning that achievement-related social differences gained in importance compared to the period before the educational expansion. At the same time, we observed a slight increase in the relative importance of secondary effects for transitions to tertiary education during the expansion. As a further result, our study shows that the rapid expansion of academic upper secondary graduation is mainly the consequence of an increase in the number of Abitur graduates via alternative paths besides the Gymnasium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First year students struggle to understand the concepts in introductory engineering physics courses. Computer generated visualizations have proven their value for improving learning in tertiary education. However, it remains often unclear how visualization software can be effectively deployed in classrooms to best improve learning outcomes. In this paper we put a freshly developed educational software entitled “The virtual beam demonstrator” to a first test in a physics and mechanics lecture at Oslo University College. The intention of this work was to explore how to get the balance between technology, pedagogics, and content knowledge right to best support student learning. We evaluated student learning outcomes of our initial attempt to use the software in a classroom based on a student evaluation form. While initial results are promising, we cannot claim to have significantly improved student learning in our initial attempt at using the software. The evaluations showed only slight improvement in conceptual understanding by the students. This finding was not unexpected as we anticipated that finding the right approach for putting this softwareto usewould takeseveral attempts. To turn failure into success, we would need astrongeremphasison customized pedagogic methods. Relevant theory is explored and an approach based on “Interactive Lecture Demonstrations” is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• No data about (in-)equalities of access to Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. • Unique data on socio-economic background of students to a graduate programme. • Course is entirely funded because 'there is no access for poor African students'. • Analysis of questionnaire completed on entry shows that students are relatively rich. • Rather sad similarity with situation prevailing in Europe 50 years ago. There have been many studies of the socio-economic background of students in developed countries; but – apart from extensive commentary on the gender gap – far fewer in developing countries. In Africa, this is mostly because the University record systems do not record corresponding data; and because the international standard household surveys such as DHS only ask about educational attainment of household members which of course mainly excludes current students. This paper uses the record systems of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) and specifically the Pre-Assessment form completed by all students on entry with information about their parental background. The combination of parents not having more than primary education, renting and not owning land identified only between 1 and 3 students a year. Taking the opposite extreme, the percentage of entrants reporting that their parents had a post-Secondary qualification is considerably higher (around 57% on average) than the norm at the time the parents would have been studying (around 7%). These students were certainly not poor, they are upper middle class. Further analysis identifies differences in the patterns for those at Anglophone or Francophone centres; and trends over the last four years. The paper then reviews the trends in inequality in access to higher education in the 'mother' countries – UK and France – from about sixty years ago until recently, to ask whether the social inequalities observed among AIMS students can be seen as 'derived' from those in the mother countries, with a nuanced positive conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is mixed empirical evidence for the modernization theoretical prediction that inequality of educational opportunity is reduced through societal developments generated by industrialization. This paper conducts a multiverse analysis with 768 distinct multilevel regression models in order to comprehensively test this prediction and to investigate how sensitive inference about the cross-level interaction effect is to variation in analytic choice. The alternative analysis scenarios or "universes" differ in the criteria used for the exclusion of observations, the operationalization and adjustment of micro- and macro-level variables, and the choice of regression model formula. The models are fit to data from 26 European countries that cover from four to six ten-year birth cohorts spanning a period from the 1930s to the 1980s. In aggregate, the multiverse of results is consistent with an industrialization-related decrease in the effects of social origins on the expected duration of schooling and on the completion of upper secondary education. However, the evidence for declining social origin differentials in the odds of completing tertiary education is considerably weaker, suggesting that the equalization is concentrated at the lower levels of education. It was also found that for all three educational outcomes there are reasonable analytic choice combinations that lead to an inability to observe the predicted equalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neo-Whorfians argue that the structures our language uses to encode spatial relations influence the way we conceptualise space. One explicit test of this link has been studies of how speakers of different languages configure arrays of objects in non-linguistic rotation tasks. Subjects perform these tasks differently depending on their dominant linguistic frame of reference: relative e.g. left/right terms, or absolute e.g. N/S/W/E terms. One prediction is that changes in the linguistic system should result in corresponding cognitive changes. Such a linguistic shift has occurred among Gurindji people (Australia). Traditionally Gurindji people used a system of cardinal directions, however many have now also been exposed to the English left/right system. This paper demonstrates that this language difference is reflected cognitively. The ‘Animals-in-a-row’ task was administered to 107 Gurindji people. The results show strong ‘viewpoint independent’ responses, nonetheless those with a Tertiary education gave significantly more ‘viewpoint dependent’ responses which we attribute to exposure to English, and perhaps associated literacy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the growth over time of the size of higher education institutions (HEIs), as measured by the number of academic staff, and its association with HEI and country attributes. We analyze a sample of 837 HEIs from 18 countries derived from the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER) and from the European Micro Data dataset (EUMIDA) for the years 2008 and 2012. Our analysis shows that (1) HEIs growth is largely proportional to their size, leading to a nearly log-normal distribution of size (Gibrat's law), even if small institutions tend to grow faster; (2) the growth of the number of students and HEI's reputation level positively influences HEI growth. Consequently (3) small HEIs need a lower level of reputation and less growth of students to continue growing over time, while only highly reputed HEIs are able to maintain a large size over time. Our results are relevant to understand the extent to which cumulative effects lead to a lasting concentration of resources in the HE system and whether public policies are able to redistribute resources based on merit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade the Internet has played a growing role in the resolution strategies of many of those who face civil justice problems. Drawing on data from a novel experiment capturing the online information-seeking behaviours of 208 students, this paper explores how young people in England use the Internet when faced with a hypothetical civil justice problem relating to housing or employment law. The study finds that while the Internet holds potential as a Public Legal Education (PLE) tool, exposure to online legal information does not directly equate to improved knowledge of rights or knowledge of how to handle a civil justice problem. The Internet's utility in this respect, continues to be constrained by the quality of information provided and the public's capacity to use it and apply it in a meaningful way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite copious research on the labor market returns to college, very little has adequately modeled the pathways of non-completers or compared their outcomes with those of award-holders. In this paper, we present a novel method for linking non-completers with completers according to their program of study. We use this method to calculate the labor market returns to programs of study, accounting for those who obtain an award and those who do not. We use a large dataset of community college transcripts matched with earnings data. We find that different classification systems – by algorithm, intent or goal – yield very different enrollment patterns across programs. Importantly, these classifications make a substantial difference to earnings patterns. Returns vary by program completion and by program non-completion. Consequently, combining completers and non-completers yields a new pattern of returns. We find that the variance in returns by subject of study is reduced when we combine data on completers and non-completers. In particular, the large returns to nursing awards are substantially lower when we account for the probability of completing a nursing program and the returns to not completing a nursing program. In addition, progression per se does not lead to higher earnings for non-completers: progressing further in a nursing program is no different from accumulating general college credits. If validated, these findings have significant implications for policies on program choice and on student retention policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper strives to answer the question whether Europe will reach its tertiary education attainment target by 2020. We model the dynamics behind education decisions as a balance between investment and consumption motivations. We use a panel approach and a wide range of statistical tests to insure that model specifications are stable and robust. Insights into the dynamics of future education attainment and remaining policy challenges are highlighted. While Europe is likely to achieve its target, there is a growing divide between best and low performing countries that raises doubts with respect to real economic convergence prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of shrinking government budgets and a growing need to train a high-skilled labor force, policymakers have become increasingly interested in cost-effective measures that induce more students to apply to and enroll in college. In this paper, we use a regression discontinuity design to identify the causal effect of students receiving information about their own college-readiness after taking the ACT on their subsequent college enrollment decisions. Using data from Colorado, where all high school students are required to take the ACT, we find that students who receive information that they are college-ready are no more likely to attend college than those that do not receive this information. We discuss possible reasons for these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the effectiveness of restricting access to higher education in order to decrease overeducation. Agent-based simulation is used as the modelling method. Agents represent secondary school graduates who may choose to get tertiary education. Their willingness to continue studies depends on the share of their friends with tertiary education. There are high-qualified and low-qualified jobs in the labour market; the former require higher education. Tertiary-educated agents employed in low-qualified jobs are overeducated. There are also two types of agents, one of which will not be hired for a high-qualified job even if they graduate from university because they lack personal characteristics important for success in high-qualified jobs. The simulation is used to analyse the impact of government's decision to restrict the number of university entrants. This is compared to an alternative of accepting all students who want to study. Restricting access to university successfully decreases the overeducation rate. Socialnetwork effects distort the theoretical equality between the relative drop in overeducation and the restriction size. In some scenarios, restricting access is efficient: it decreases overeducation more than expected. The study stresses the importance of admission tests as an alternative to a general admission ceiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the sizeable financial and time investments associated with obtaining a postsecondary degree, the choice of where to apply and enroll should be a deliberate and thoughtful process. In this paper we exploit changes in application fees and admissions essay requirements, to demonstrate that students strongly respond to small costs in the college application process. Using a new method to identify major competitors of each college, we find that these small screening mechanisms negatively impact application volume and divert student applications to colleges to which they otherwise would not have applied. There is limited evidence that measures of enrollment and retention are affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community colleges play a major role in postsecondary education, yet previous research has emphasized the impact of merit aid on four-year students rather than two-year students. Furthermore, researchers have focused on the impact of merit aid on enrollment and outcomes during college, but to my knowledge, none have yet considered the impact of aid on earnings after college. This paper utilizes discontinuities in eligibility criteria for a large merit scholarship to examine the local impact of aid on student outcomes both during college and after college. The findings suggest that reducing the cost of community college does not impact persistence, academic performance, degree completion, expected earnings, or short-term earnings after college for marginally eligible students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online teaching has been implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, teaching online consumes considerable time and adds pressure to teachers' daily lives. Teachers have to not only acquire technical skills but also provide engaging instruction online. Meanwhile, privacy breaches occasionally occur in online teaching. The objective of the current study is to analyze the factors underlying the continuance intention toward online teaching beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. We use the person-environment fit theory to develop the survey for investigation. An open-ended question appended to the survey helps to gather teachers' further thoughts on sustainable online teaching. The structural equation modeling reveals that teachers' technostress is associated with their privacy concerns and self-efficacy in delivering effective instruction amid online teaching. The multigroup analysis further demonstrates that technostress, self-efficacy and school support are related to the continuance intention to teach online for teachers at distinct teaching levels to different extents. The responses to the open-ended question reveal that teachers' preference for online instruction lies in wealthy teaching resources and flexibility. Students' learning performance and the effectiveness of assessments constitute a concern in conducting online teaching. The implications for policymakers and teachers are remarked upon at the end of this paper. • Teachers experience technostress in mandated online teaching during the pandemic. • Privacy concerns aggravate teachers' technostress of online teaching. • Self-efficacy in online pedagogy would alleviate teachers' technostress. • School support matters less in teachers' continuance intention of online teaching. • Technostress plays a mediating role in bridging several relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper documents the level of selection bias in the college scorecard earnings metrics. • More than 70% of the between-school variation in median earnings is explained by observable factors. • Controlling for major composition explains 20–30% of the variation in earnings over and above institutional selectivity and student composition. • Consumers can draw misleading conclusions about institutional quality when using publicly available earnings data to compare institutions. Policymakers are increasingly including early-career earnings data in consumer-facing college search tools to help students and families make more informed postsecondary education decisions. We offer new evidence on the degree to which existing college-specific earnings data equip consumers with useful information by documenting the level of selection bias in the earnings metrics reported in the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. Given growing interest in reporting earnings by college and major, we focus on the degree to which earnings differences across four-year colleges and universities can be explained by differences in major composition across institutions. We estimate that more than 70% of the variation in median earnings across institutions is explained by observable factors, and accounting for differences in major composition explains 20–30% of the variation in earnings over and above institutional selectivity and student composition. We also identify large variations in the distribution of earnings within colleges; as a result, comparisons of early-career earnings can be extremely sensitive to whether the median, 25th, or 75th percentiles are presented. Taken together, our findings indicate that consumers can easily draw misleading conclusions about institutional quality when using publicly available earnings data to compare institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about analysing the temporal aspects of learning processes in the educational technology research field. Our main aim was to advance methods for analysing temporal aspects of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) processes by introducing the temporal lag sequential analysis (TLSA) technique and by combining TLSA with temporal log data analysis (TLDA). Our secondary aim was to illustrate the potential of these two analysis techniques to reveal the differences between the face-to-face technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry-based learning (CIBL) processes of three different conditions (non-scaffolded, writing scaffolded and script scaffolded groups). The study involved undergraduate university students (N = 231) in natural sciences. The TLDA was based on timestamps and groups' inputs into a TEL environment, and it focused on the groups' temporal ways of using technological resources. The TLSA was based on screen capture videos and audio recordings of the groups' CIBL processes, and it focused on the inquiry-based learning (IBL) transition patterns (i.e. the transitions between the different IBL phases) discovered by lag sequential analysis and demonstrated by how the IBL transition patterns temporarily emerged. The TLDA findings demonstrated temporal differences regarding how the groups in the different conditions used the available technological resources. The TLSA findings revealed three temporarily distinct IBL transition pattern clusters whose content and temporal emergence varied depending on the condition. Parallel temporal analysis of the log data and the IBL transition patterns indicated that the use of the technological resources temporarily mediated IBL transition patterns. Specifically, we found advantages similar to those of asynchronous online discussions (think before acting) when face-to-face interaction was enhanced with the writing scaffold. The article concludes with a general discussion of the necessity and potential of temporal analysis. • We introduced a method combining temporal log data and temporal lag sequential analysis. • We illustrated the potential of the methods for comparing non-scaffolded and scaffolded technology-enhanced CIBL processes. • Temporal analysis revealed differences that would have otherwise remained invisible. • Three temporarily distinct inquiry-based learning transition pattern clusters were identified. • Use of technological resources seemed to temporarily mediate inquiry-based learning transition patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the growing market of international students has resulted in changing expectations students have about the products offered by tertiary education providers. This is especially evident in Australia where, due to its geographical proximity, universities are increasingly attracting a large number of students from the Asia-Pacific region. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study that investigated Singaporean student perceptions of and interactions with the Australian culture whilst studying at an Australian based university. The study uses this context to provide a better understanding of the role that host countries and universities play in facilitating the educational experiences of students who choose to study in foreign countries. Analysis of data from four group interviews held with Singaporean students reveals an in-depth understanding of how the interactions between international students and those of the host destination influence the experience of the international students. Practical implications relating to the management of the international student experience are presented for the Australian tertiary education sector. fx1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]