The Impact of Degree Duration on Higher Education Participation: Evidence from a Large‐scale Natural Experiment

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects on enrolment, retention rate and on‐time graduation of a nationwide Bologna Process reform introduced in Italy to establish BAs with a duration of three years, followed by optional second‐tier degrees of two years, in place of single‐tier degrees of four or five years. The analysis exploits exogenous delay of treatment conditions and the unique availability of microdata that cover the universe of the departments. We estimate that the reform boosted first‐year enrolments by 14.5–17.3 percentage points, compared to a counterfactual status of no reform. This enrolment shift was due to participation gains rather than substitution effects, and it is likely to have persisted in the longer term. Moreover, no trade‐off between increased participation and deteriorated retention and on‐time graduation emerged.

Sooner or later? The impact of child education on household consumption

“…Empirical evidence has almost entirely focused on its effects on key student outcomes. For instance, Bondonio and Berton (2018) analyse individual enrolment, retention rates, and ontime graduation. After the reform, they find that first-year student enrolments are between 14.5 and 17.3 percentage points higher.…”

“…Hence, a comprehensive evaluation of the Bologna process reform requires analysing the consequences of non-durable consumption arising from household behaviour. Previous literature has focused on the behavioural responses of young individuals (see Cappellari and Lucifora 2009;Bondonio and Berton 2018;Hahm and Kluve 2019). Another strand of the literature has emphasised the household life cycle's role, rather than time-specific, credit constraint on the human capital accumulation process of the child (see for instance Cameron and Heckman 2001;Keane and Wolpin 2001;Cameron and Taber 2004;Hai and Heckman 2017).…”

The influence of Europeanization policies on immigrants’ participation in Scandinavian higher education

“…The main challenge for the analysis of reform impact is to separate the reform impact from other effects produced by other factors related to demographic, student composition or labour market aspects (Berton & Bondonio, 2018). Previous research on the influence of the new degrees on participation patterns focuses on the general population and is mostly limited to one country (Bondonio & Berton, 2018;Di Pietro, 2011;Cappellari & Lucifora, 2009).…”

“…Previous research on the impact of Europeanization reforms on under-represented groups tends to focus on students from a low socio-economic origin (Neugebauer, Neumeyer, & Alesi, 2016) traditional one-cycle degree programs have been re-arranged into two successive cycles (bachelor's and master's. Berton and Bondonio (2018) discuss the influence of the Bologna degree reform on overall enrolment rates. However, research on how the degree structural change influenced HE participation is scarce and somewhat inconclusive indicating that the effect differs across countries (Di Pietro, 2011, p. 358).…”

Did the Bologna Process Challenge the German Apprenticeship System? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

“…To date, existing research has provided mixed results. Some studies find positive effects on university enrollment for Italy (Cappellari and Lucifora, 2009;Di Pietro, 2012;Bondonio and Berton, 2018) as well as for Portugal (Cardoso et al, 2008). For Germany, in contrast, no effects on total enrollment (Horstschräer and Sprietsma, 2015) or on the participation of students from low socio-economic backgrounds (Neugebauer, 2015) have been reported.…”