Do Starting Salaries for Graduates Measure the Quality of Education? A Review of Studies by Russian and Foreign Authors

Abstract

Abstract. This paper is a review of studies that investigate factors that determine starting wages of university graduates. The focus is laid upon the works addressing the question: To what extent can starting graduate wages be indicative of the quality of education received? We discuss the theoretical conceptions shedding light on the reasons for differences in wages of fresh graduates: the theory of human capital, the job market signaling theory, the theory of compensating wage differentials, and empirical studies aimed at measuring the influence various factors have on the size of starting wages. An analysis of different studies has shown that, despite the important role played by the quality of education, there are many other factors that can have an impact on wages. Such factors include heterogeneity of graduates and jobs, market imperfections, individual preferences of graduates and their strategies of entering the labor market. The provided review and critical analysis of studies designed to assess the correlations between the quality of higher education and the level of starting wages for graduates allows us to define the general requirements to data quality in case of Russia adopts the system of university graduate monitoring. Keywords: higher education, labor market, graduate wages, the theory of human capital, job market signaling, compensating wage differentials, university graduate monitoring systems.The existing situation with Russian professional education is determined by the recent transition from elite to mass higher education. Higher percentage of school graduates obtain higher education, which naturally gives rise to problems, the most acute of which are:• degradation of the overall quality of higher education and differentiation among educational institutions and programs by quality of the education they provide;

Development of Universal Skills at the Russian Universities: Challenges and Experience

“…A study by the World Bank and the Higher School of Economics [6] confirmed that Russian companies, especially innovative ones, desperately need employees with high cognitive and social skills but the education system does not guarantee adequate development. The gap between necessary and available skills has appeared due to the mismatch between education and the labor market both in Russia [7] and abroad [8]. Russian universities are focused on the development of basic skills and disregard the demand of employers for high cognitive skills, social, and behavioral skills.…”