Poor post-secondary education infrastructure and opportunities partly explain the low higher education rates in developing countries. This paper estimates the effect of a program that improved post-secondary education infrastructure by building many university campuses across Uruguay. Leveraging temporal and geographic variation in program…

The role of parental expectations in determining children's higher education participation is important in understanding both participation and potential policy responses. Using a nationally representative longitudinal survey of Australian households, providing repeat observations on expectations for individual children, this study extends the…

This study used rich individual-level registry data covering the entire Norwegian population to identify students aged 17-21 who either failed a high-stakes exit exam or who received the lowest passing grade from 2006 to 2018. Propensity score matching on high-quality observed characteristics was utilized to allow meaningful comparisons (N =…

This paper studies the effect of school closures on student outcomes in the Lithuanian context. Using administrative student-level data from 2013-2017 and propensity score matching, we create a balanced sample of control and treatment groups. In contrast to other studies, we focus on students in the final years of high school, possibly eliciting…

This paper aims to determine the effect of parental education, as an important measure of social origin, on the expectations of 15 year olds to complete higher education in the Netherlands. More importantly, the paper tests specific explanations for this effect. For the empirical analysis, Dutch data from the PISA 2018 survey were used. The…

Since invasion the trajectory of colonial education in Australia has been linear; most students are expected to complete primary and secondary education, and, if accepted, seamlessly transition to university by 18 years of age. The reality is that many students do not experience continuity in their education, let alone reach university, and this…

In 2010, South Korea introduced a new student loan program that was income contingent (ICL). One of the main expected outcomes of the new loan program was to provide credit-constrained students the ability to focus on their college education rather than having to work while enrolled. To this end, this study investigates the effect of ICL on…

Education is often considered a particularly polarised area of policy -- with much unnecessary chopping and changing as governments and ministers come and go, wanting to make their mark. Yet, while there has been a lot of surface area turbulence the broad trends in policy have been remarkably stable for 35 years. The English school system has…

Over the past two decades, there has been a notable increase in the number of transnational students enrolled in K12 and higher education institutions in Mexico and the United States. These students, who often engage in circular migration, bring unique and enriching experiences to their schools as they navigate the educational systems of both…

While there is a strong consensus on the importance of Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) skills for the rise of participatory citizens and work-ready professionals, the extent to which university attendance by itself supports their development and acquisition remains controversial. This research presents a cohort, longitudinal follow-up study…

My dissertation explores the higher education transition decisions made by senior high school students from diverse social backgrounds in Chile. I examine how family, school, and the broader institutional and political context interact with and influence these decisions during times of major social changes and educational reform. Through a…

Foundation programmes provide an alternate access route for prospective students whose prior academic results exclude direct entry to undergraduate studies. Bridging courses within foundation programmes address gaps in prior knowledge while developing content knowledge and requisite skills to equip students for the rigour of undergraduate degree…

Although having shown signs of closing in recent years, the Black attainment gap in UK Higher Education continues to be significant and, as such, has received considerable attention in the literature, media, and government. The reasons behind the attainment gap are complex, requiring further research in the area. On observing a possible trend in…

This article explores the extent to which three different school or college characteristics are related to school or college-level progression rates to higher education. Using data from publicly available datasets concerning state schools and colleges in England, linear regression analyses were performed to investigate the extent to which…

We study the extent and consequences of biases against immigrants exhibited by high school teachers in Finland. Compared to native students, immigrant students receive 0.06 standard deviation units lower scores from teachers than from blind graders. This effect is almost entirely driven by grading penalties incurred by high-performing immigrant…