Essays on the economics of higher education
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 Econo...
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64453/ |
| _version_ | 1848800133023531008 |
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| author | Silva, Pedro Luis |
| author_facet | Silva, Pedro Luis |
| author_sort | Silva, Pedro Luis |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:46:42Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-64453 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:46:42Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-644532025-02-28T15:11:02Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64453/ Essays on the economics of higher education Silva, Pedro Luis 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. 2021-03-15 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64453/1/PhD_Thesis_Jan_2021.pdf Silva, Pedro Luis (2021) Essays on the economics of higher education. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Universities and colleges Admission; National Exams; Teacher Scores; Admission Tests; General Skills |
| spellingShingle | Universities and colleges Admission; National Exams; Teacher Scores; Admission Tests; General Skills Silva, Pedro Luis Essays on the economics of higher education |
| title | Essays on the economics of higher education |
| title_full | Essays on the economics of higher education |
| title_fullStr | Essays on the economics of higher education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Essays on the economics of higher education |
| title_short | Essays on the economics of higher education |
| title_sort | essays on the economics of higher education |
| topic | Universities and colleges Admission; National Exams; Teacher Scores; Admission Tests; General Skills |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64453/ |