Abstract
Contrary to the overall tendency to increase student participation in the financing of higher education, Estonia abolished student tuition fees in 2013. We study the effects of this reform on the students’ access to and progress in higher education, concentrating mostly on the changes in probabilities of rural and remote students being admitted (extensive margin) and graduating within a nominal time (intensive margin). We distinguish between four different outcomes: admission in general, admission to vocational education, admission to high-rank curricula, and graduation within nominal time. We confirm the tendency that a high socioeconomic status increases the probability of being admitted to high-rank curricula and reduces the probability of choosing an applied curriculum, and the 2013 reform did not change that. While the reform weakly improved rural students’ tendency to graduate on time, it diminished the probability that they were admitted to high-rank curricula. So, paradoxically and contrary to the intention of the reform, higher state involvement in higher education financing has not improved the equity in university admission in Estonia in terms of either socioeconomic background or regional disparities. We claim that part of the explanation of that paradox lies in the conditionality of this reform and the combination of a scarce needs-based and a competitive merit-based student support system in Estonia. We see our broader contribution in emphasising the important role of support systems in the future analysis of the potential to improve students’ access.
Highlights
To test the inclusivity question empirically, we developed the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1 (H1). (Extensive margin 1) Reform increased the probability of disadvantaged students being admitted to higher education institutions; Hypothesis 2 (H2). (Extensive margin 2) Reform increased the probability of disadvantaged students being admitted to applied curricula; Hypothesis 3 (H3). (Extensive margin 3) Reform increased the probability of disadvantaged students being admitted to high-rank curricula; Hypothesis 4 (H4). (Intensive margin) The probability of disadvantaged students graduating within nominal time increased
We identify a strong rejection of the third hypothesis—reform has had a negative effect on the probability of getting admitted to high-rank curricula
We used a quasi-experimental design to show the effects of the higher education funding reform on disadvantaged students
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. It is no surprise that education in general, and tertiary education in particular, is at the centre of political debates in most developed countries, and the governance of higher education systems has been subject to continuous reforms and transformations. The focus here mainly centres on questions of social selectivity in higher education, its stratification, and the increased need for the reconciliation of work and studies among today’s student body [4,5] Government responses to these challenges have been influenced by both global (such as the Bologna process or neoliberal ideas) and local forces (e.g., interest groups, political parties) [6,7], which has resulted in a variety of “worlds of higher education governance” with different implications for educational efficiency and equity. We conclude by giving policy implications derived from the current experiment
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