Essays on the economics of higher education

Silva, Pedro Luis (2021) Essays on the economics of higher education. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

This thesis focus on the choice of university admission requirements. The first chapter studies which admission requirements to Higher Education are better predictors of students' success. More specifically, I explore the differences in national high-stake exams and teacher scores used by Economics and Management degrees. I find that the teacher scores are a stronger predictor of students' performance at university. In the second chapter, I study whether universities should select their students only using specialised subject-specific tests, or on the basis of a broader set of skills and knowledge. The empirical analysis is guided by a theoretical framework. The theoretical model shows that although broader skills are not improving graduates' outcomes in the labour market, the university chooses to use them as a criterion for selection alongside the mastery of more subject-specific tools. This is so because broader skills allow the university to select candidates who are on average abler. I test the model on a large administrative dataset of Portuguese students. My central finding is that, on average, universities with less specialised admission policies admit a pool of students who obtain a higher final GPA.

Item Type: Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors: De Fraja, Gianni
Possajennikov, Alex
Keywords: Universities and colleges, Admission; National Exams; Teacher Scores; Admission Tests; General Skills
Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher education
Faculties/Schools: UK Campuses > Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Education > School of Economics
Item ID: 64453
Depositing User: Silva, Mr Pedro Luis
Date Deposited: 24 May 2021 10:35
Last Modified: 24 May 2021 10:35
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/64453

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