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Mass Tertiary Education, Higher Education Standard and University Reform: A Theoretical Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Massimiliano BRATTI

    (Universit… di Milano, DEAS)

  • Chiara BROCCOLINI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

  • Stefano STAFFOLANI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

Abstract

After the "3+2" University reform in Italy there has been a fast increase in the number of students. A common wisdom is that this result was partly achieved by reducing the standard of Higher Education (HE). In this paper we first build a theoretical model in which individuals decide whether to enrol in HE along with their optimal course quality, and whether to dropout. Then, we use the model to analyse the effect of a reduction in the standards of HE courses available in the educational system on overall enrollment and drop-out. We show that a reduction in HE standard helps achieving a mass tertiary education by increasing both the number of students and that of university graduates but it does not necessarily increase the overall efficiency of the HE system measured in terms of drop-out or graduation rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimiliano BRATTI & Chiara BROCCOLINI & Stefano STAFFOLANI, 2007. "Mass Tertiary Education, Higher Education Standard and University Reform: A Theoretical Analysis," Working Papers 277, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:277
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Massimiliano BRATTI & Chiara BROCCOLINI & Stefano STAFFOLANI, 2006. "Is '3+2' Equal to 4? University Reform and Student Academic Performance in Italy," Working Papers 251, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Brunori, Paolo & Peragine, Vito & Serlenga, Laura, 2012. "Fairness in education: The Italian university before and after the reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 764-777.
    2. Paolo Brunori & Vito Peragine & Laura Serlenga, 2013. "The Bologna Process and Fairness in University Education: Evidence from Italy," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(2), pages 19-22, 07.
    3. Cappellari, Lorenzo & Lucifora, Claudio, 2009. "The "Bologna Process" and college enrollment decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 638-647, December.
    4. Stefano STAFFOLANI & Maria Cristina RECCHIONI, 2016. "Increasing Graduation and Calling for More Autonomy in Higher Education: Is It a Good Thing? A Theoretical Model," Working Papers 419, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    5. Fabio FIORILLO & Agnese SACCHI, 2010. "I Want to Free-ride. An Opportunistic View on Decentralization Versus Centralization Problem," Working Papers 346, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    6. Elena AMBROSETTI & Eralba CELA & Tineke FOKKEMA, 2011. "The Remittances Behaviour of the Second Generation in Europe: Altruism or Self-Interest?," Working Papers 368, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    7. Ugo FRATESI, 2010. "The National and International Effects;of Regional Policy Choices: Agglomeration Economies, Peripherality and Territorial Characteristics," Working Papers 344, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    8. repec:ces:ifodic:v:11:y:2013:i:2:p:19094729 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Marialuisa Restaino, 2008. "Dropping out of University of Salerno: a survival approach," Working Papers 3_193, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Statistiche, Università degli Studi di Salerno.
    10. Luca RICCETTI, 2010. "Minimum Tracking Error Volatility," Working Papers 340, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    11. Emanuela Ghignoni, 2015. "Family background and university dropouts during the crisis: the case of Italy," Working Papers in Public Economics 169, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    12. Ghignoni, Emanuela & Verashchagina, Alina, 2014. "Educational qualifications mismatch in Europe. Is it demand or supply driven?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 670-692.
    13. Luca RICCETTI, 2011. "A Copula-GARCH Model for Macro Asset Allocation of a Portfolio with Commodities: an Out-of-Sample Analysis," Working Papers 355, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    14. Paolo Brunori & Vito Peragine & Laura Serlenga, 2013. "The Bologna Process and Fairness in University Education: Evidence from Italy," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(02), pages 19-22, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ability; drop-out; enrolment; italy; reform; standard; university;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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