Enrollment Policy Research Articles

An analysis of the evolution of Japan's international student enrollment policy

Since the 1980s, Japan, at the national level, has gradually strengthened the acceptance of foreign students through the "Plan on Receiving 100,000 International Students", "Plan on Receiving 300,000 International Students", "Plans on International Infrastructure Project" and "Super University Support Plan". Through the analysis of the internationalization policies and international student enrollment policies of Japanese universities at various stages, it can be found that the foreign student based acceptance policies of Japan have completed the transition from pursuing quantity to pursuing quality.

Analyse on the Current Situation of Educational Inequality in China

With the development of China's economy, education is gradually stratified, and inequality is serious, which is reflected in many aspects. The author will discuss the status quo of gender education inequality between urban and rural areas and between different regions. This paper tries to find the fundamental factors of economic development by referring to different literatures and analyzing their data and texts. This paper pays special attention to household registration, university enrollment policy, and discusses the classification of basic education and higher education and makes a comparison between different regions. This paper analyzes the causes of economic, policy, political, and some accumulated historical factors. It was found that children in rural areas and western areas had less educational resources than children in urban areas, and the problem was more serious in the field of higher education. It is suggested that the government should vigorously support the development of economy in rural and western areas, and provide more educational resources for areas with backward economic development. It was also found that women received less educational resources than men, and that problems in urban areas were relatively light. Targeted suggestions are put forward according to different current situations to solve the educational inequality in China to a certain extent. It is suggested that the government attach attention to this issue and provide more educational opportunities for women.

Early Childhood Care and Education in Botswana: Implications for access and quality

Background: The value of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is recognised as beneficial to the child and society. Research evidence on pre-primary ECCE access and quality in Sub-Saharan Africa is scarce.Aim: The aim of this article is to examine Botswana’s pre-primary school programme in enhancing accessibility and quality of ECCE provision.Setting: The study was conducted in 12 of the 24 primary schools implementing the pre-primary programme in a Gaborone sub-region.Methods: Adaptations of the Levesque Access Framework and Woodhead Quality Framework were applied to this qualitative research study. Using semi-structured interviews, 11 pre-primary teachers, 5 school heads or Heads of Department, and 3 Principal Education Officers (PEO) were interviewed, and the data collected was analysed thematically.Results: The findings suggest that the main barriers to the effective pre-primary programme rollout are supply-side and systemic. These barriers represent the public institutional environment (e.g. funding, inter-governmental co-ordination), policy design (e.g. the physical infrastructure delivery model, administrative barriers, enrolment policy), and programme implementation (enrolment practices, teaching personnel, learning materials, and assessment of learners).Conclusion: Although over 600 public schools have implemented the pre-primary programme, meeting the objectives of universal access, equitability, inclusivity, and quality remains a challenge in Botswana, as in many other African countries.Contribution: The findings offer research frameworks and evidence for understanding pre-primary ECCE accessibility and quality. Further, the research has policy, programmatic, and practice-based implications for pre-primary educators and policymakers.

With End of PHE, States Begin Disenrolling Medicaid Enrollees

With End of PHE, States Begin Disenrolling Medicaid Enrollees

Exploring the distribution of risk factors for drop-out from Ponseti treatment for clubfoot across Bangladesh using geospatial cluster analysis.

Clubfoot is a congenital anomaly affecting 1/1,000 live births. Ponseti casting is an effective and affordable treatment. About 75% of affected children have access to Ponseti treatment in Bangladesh, but 20% are at risk of drop-out. We aimed to identify the areas in Bangladesh where patients are at high or low risk for drop-out. This study used a cross-sectional design based on publicly available data. The nationwide clubfoot program: 'Walk for Life' identified five risk factors for drop-out from the Ponseti treatment, specific to the Bangladeshi setting: household poverty, household size, population working in agriculture, educational attainment and travel time to the clinic. We explored the spatial distribution and clustering of these five risk factors. The spatial distribution of children <5 years with clubfoot and the population density differ widely across the different sub-districts of Bangladesh. Analysis of risk factor distribution and cluster analysis showed areas at high risk for dropout in the Northeast and the Southwest, with poverty, educational attainment and working in agriculture as the most prevalent driving risk factor. Across the entire country, twenty-one multivariate high-risk clusters were identified. As the risk factors for drop-out from clubfoot care are not equally distributed across Bangladesh, there is a need in regional prioritization and diversification of treatment and enrolment policies. Local stakeholders and policy makers can identify high-risk areas and allocate resources effectively.

Urban/Rural Disparities in Access to Elite Higher Education: The Case of Tsinghua University

The state plays an essential role in distributing higher education enrollment opportunities, especially in a state with a strong government like China. Many rural students have gained access to universities with the national higher education expansion in recent years, but their chances of entering elite universities still lag far behind that of their urban counterparts. By Analyzing the case of Tsinghua University, this study finds that the access gap between rural and urban students to elite universities, though still big, has been considerably narrowed since 2010 after a series of preferential policies on enhancing rural students’ educational access has been implemented. Due to the close relationship between Chinese government and its universities, China’s higher education system has responded quickly to national reform and has played an important role in promoting social mobility and reducing social inequalities. Besides, gender inequity in access to elite universities is still detected – the chance for female rural students to access elite universities was lower than for male students in either urban or rural districts. We suggest that the higher education enrollment policy should consider more about the intersectional status of rural students in favor of educational equity for the underprivileged.

Advanced Placement Gatekeeping and Racialized Tracking

Racialized tracking is central to sociological explanations for racially stratified educational outcomes. However, school officials’ decision-making is of debated importance for explaining racialized tracking. We contribute to this literature by examining the effects of schools’ enrollment policies for Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Using a unique combination of school survey data and administrative data from Wisconsin, we examine what happens to racial inequality in AP participation when school officials enforce performance-based selection criteria, which we call “course gatekeeping.” We find that course gatekeeping has racially disproportionate effects. Although racialized differences in prior achievement partially explain the especially large negative effects among students of color, course gatekeeping producesBlack-white and Hispanic-white disparities in participation even among students with similar, relatively low prior achievement. We further find that course gatekeeping has longer-run effects, particularly discouraging Black and Asian or Pacific Islander students from attending highly selective four-year colleges.

Pay for elite private schools or pay for higher housing prices? Evidence from an exogenous policy shock

This study provides the first direct empirical evidence on whether private school lottery enrollment program affects school district house prices and residential sorting behaviors. Although the new lottery enrollment policy for private schools in China aims to promote equal and affordable education, it also introduces uncertainty. We assessed the policy impact using the panel data of residential housing transactions from the largest real estate agent in Chengdu during 2018–2020 and controlling for grid-level demographic and economic variables from mobile Internet data. We found that the lottery-based private school enrollment uncertainty leads to a substantial rise in the value of the key and elite school district house (SDH) prices. The house price premiums of the key SDH and elite SDH increased by 2.8% and 7.8% in the post-policy period, respectively. We also observed a significant intensification of residential sorting behavior within the elite public school districts afterwards. These results suggest that parents pay higher house prices when access to quality private schools becomes uncertain.

A Comparative Research Based on the Enrollment Policies of High-Level Athletes in Chinese and American Universities

The United States, one of the world's most prosperous countries in the development of college sports, has a relatively complete admissions policy. In order to ensure the overall quality of high-level athletes, it is essential to guarantee good enrollment. By comparing the enrollment policies of high-level athletes between Chinese and American universities, this paper examines the problems existing in the enrollment of high-level athletes in Chinese universities. It is found that in China, the first problem is the semi-transparency of the individualized admissions process of colleges and universities leads to unequal admissions; next, the schools give athletes candidates fewer majors to choose from; then, the unified national admissions will reduce the opportunities of candidates; finally, there is an information communication barrier between universities and candidates. Based on the above problems, this article, by referring to the admissions policy adopted by the United States, suggests collages in China objectively judge the situation of candidates and formulate a reasonable enrollment plan. First, establishing a third-party organization and improving the supervision system; next, giving candidates more opportunities to choose majors; then, establish a communication platform between colleges and candidates, so as to promote the continuous positive development of high-level athlete enrollment in Chinese colleges and universities.

High School Principals’ Perceptions of Dual Enrollment Policy in Ohio and Texas

Dual enrollment policies and programs, where students earn both high school and college credits, have been scaled up across the United States in the last two decades. In this mixed methods study, we survey high school principals in Ohio and Texas, two states with robust dual enrollment policies. The study addressed one broad research question: What are principals’ perceptions of dual enrollment access, participation, and governance? Findings revealed three main themes: (1) economic/credential student motivations for dual enrollment; (2) mixed views about rigor; (3) issues surrounding the loss of principal autonomy.

The Power of Financial Incentives versus the Power of Suggestion for Individual Pension: Are Financial Incentives or Automatic Enrollment Policies More Effective?

This study investigates and compares the impacts of two important reforms in retirement savings—matching contribution and automatic enrollment—on participation in the individual pension system (IPS) in Turkey by using a dataset containing information about over 40 million pension contracts for the period of 2004–2021. Unlike the automatic enrollment system (AES), the state matching contribution policy imposes a burden on the state’s budget; understanding the relative effectiveness of the two policies can help protect the public budget from such burdens, especially by taking individual attitudes into account in future policy recommendations. Our estimations indicate that both reforms led to an overall increase in participation. However, the AES is not efficient at encouraging participants to make an active decision on plan characteristics, such as portfolio choices. We also evaluate the effects of the two reforms on IPS participation among different demographic groups. We find that males and married individuals are more responsive to matching contributions, and education levels seem to be closely related with IPS participation. Participants are also sensitive to both the returns of pension funds and alternative investment instruments. All the findings imply that individuals must be encouraged to recognize the need for effective financial preparation in their post-retirement lives. To accomplish this, policymakers could utilize a comprehensive informative campaign and workplace seminars about both the system as a whole and the returns, and they could improve the plan characteristics to be compatible with the needs of individuals before retirement as well as after.

China’s Sustainable Talent Cultivations for Basic Disciplines: Evaluating the Reformed National College Enrollment Policy

Understanding the effectiveness of the implementation of higher education policies could help stakeholders make informed decisions. As a relatively new policy, research on the evaluation of the reformed national college enrollment policy—Strengthening Basic Disciplines Plan (SBDP), especially from the perspective of policy innovation and implementation is limited. This study attempts to evaluate SBDP at an early stage, thereby understanding how effectively SBDP has been implemented and what its innovations are. Utilizing the policy documentation and institutional admission documents, this study operated qualitative data using a semi-quantitative method, primarily focusing on two comparisons: the SBDP policy documentation vs. institutional SBDP admission documents, and institutional SBDP vs. Independent Enrollment Policy (IEP) admission documents. Results showed that most pilot institutions regulate SBDP admission documents in accordance with the policy documentation. However, institutional divergence in practical implementations still exists, even under centralized governance. In addition, four major demand-oriented innovations such as cultivating talents in basic disciplines and cultivation strategies in SBDP were found, compared to IEP. These findings have implications in helping Chinese higher education stakeholders to effectively implement SBDP and achieve sustainable talent cultivation for national strategies.

A Cross-Sectional Examination of Educational Expectation Among Welfare Users in an Asset Building Program.

The Children's Savings Accounts (CSAs) program, an asset-building intervention, has gained increasing attention for its potential to elevate low-in families' education expectations, college enrollment, and completion. Variations in program enrollment policy can lead to different levels of program participation among vulnerable populations. This paper examines the enrollment policy of one of the oldest CSA programs and explores program participation among a financially vulnerable group-welfare users. While welfare users were 43% less likely to expect their children to attend college, those who enrolled in the CSA program were about two times more likely to expect their children to go to college than welfare users who did not participate in the program. Findings shed light on research and policies that facilitate asset-building efforts among vulnerable populations and encourage visioning CSAs a potential drive for better financial inclusion.

Exploring the Spatial Discrete Heterogeneity of Housing Prices in Beijing, China, Based on Regionally Geographically Weighted Regression Affected by Education

Spatial heterogeneity analysis of housing prices, in general, is crucial for maintaining high-quality economic development in China, especially in the post-COVID-19 pandemic context. Previous studies have attempted to explain the associated geographical evolution by studying the spatial non-stationary continuous heterogeneity; however, they ignored the spatial discrete heterogeneity caused by natural or policy factors, such as education, economy, and population. Therefore, in this study, we take Beijing as an example and consider educational factors in order to propose an improved local regression algorithm called the regionally geographically weighted regression affected by education (E-RGWR), which can effectively address spatial non-stationary discrete heterogeneity caused by education factors. Our empirical study indicates that the R2 and R2adj values of E-RGWR are 0.8644 and 0.8642, which are 10.98% and 11.01% higher than those of GWR, and 3.26% and 3.27% higher than those of RGWR, respectively. In addition, through an analysis of related variables, the quantitative impacts of greening rate, distance to market, distance to hospitals. and construction time on housing prices in Beijing are found to present significant spatial discrete heterogeneity, and a positive relationship between school districts and housing prices was also observed. The obtained evaluation results indicate that E-RGWR can explain the spatial instability of housing prices in Beijing and the spatial discrete heterogeneity caused by education factors. Finally, based on the estimation results of the E-RGWR model, regarding housing prices in Beijing, we analyze the relationships between enrollment policy, real estate sales policy, and housing prices, E-RGWR can provide policy makers with more refined evidence to understand the nature of the centralized change relationship of Beijing’s housing price data in a well-defined manner. The government should not only carry out macro-control, but also implement precise policies for different regions, refine social governance, promote education equity, and boost the economy.

Optimal Enrollment in Late-Stage New Drug Development with Learning of Drug’s Efficacy for Group-Sequential Clinical Trials

Problem definition: The cost for developing a new drug ranged from $1 billion to more than $2 billion between 2010 and 2019. In addition to high development costs, the efficacy of the candidate drug, patient enrollment, the market exclusivity period (MEP), and the planning horizon are uncertain. Moreover, slow enrollment leads to increased costs, canceled clinical trials, and lost potential revenue. Many firms, hoping to detect efficacy versus futility of the candidate drug early to save development costs, plan interim analyses of patient-response data in their clinical trials. Academic/practical relevance: The problem for optimizing patient-enrollment rates has an uncertain planning horizon. We developed a continuous-time dynamic programming (DP) model with learning of a drug’s efficacy and MEP to assist firms in developing optimal enrollment policies in their clinical trials. We also established the optimality equation for this DP model. Through a clinical trial for testing a cancer drug developed by a leading pharmaceutical firm, we demonstrate that our DP model can help firms effectively manage their trials with a sizable profit gain (as large as $270 million per drug). Firms can also use our model in simulation to select their trial design parameters (e.g., the sample sizes of interim analyses). Methodology: We update a drug’s efficacy by Bayes’ rules. Using the stochastic order and the likelihood-ratio order of distribution functions, we prove the monotonic properties of the value function and an optimal policy. Results: We established that the value of the drug-development project increases as the average response from patients using the candidate drug increases. For drugs having low annual revenue or a strong market brand or treating rare diseases, we also established that the optimal enrollment policy is monotonic in the average patient response. Moreover, the optimal enrollment rate increases as the variance of the MEP decreases. Managerial implications: Firms can use the properties of the value function to select late-stage clinical trials for their drug-development project portfolios. Firms can also use our optimal policy to guide patient recruitment in their clinical trials considering competition from other drugs in the marketplace. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.1162 .

School Choice, Local Discretion, and Stratification: Evidence From Inter-district Open Enrollment in Metro Detroit

School choice policies can, by design or in implementation, give schools and districts discretion over enrollment. In this study, I examine the effect of local discretion over inter-district open enrollment on non-resident enrollment. I use longitudinal data on open enrollment patterns and policies in the metropolitan Detroit area. I find that when districts set more restrictive open enrollment policies, they enroll fewer new non-resident students overall, due to a decrease in new Black, Hispanic, and low-income non-resident students specifically. When districts allow inter-district open enrollment, racial and socioeconomic segregation within those districts do not change, and racial isolation slightly increases. My findings suggest that regulating enrollment policies to reduce discretionary exclusion can increase access to inter-district choice for some low-income and racially minoritized students, but that these kinds of policy changes are unlikely to reduce racial segregation and socioeconomic stratification more broadly.

Can digital adherence technologies reduce inequity in tuberculosis treatment success? Evidence from a randomised controlled trial

IntroductionTuberculosis (TB) is a global health emergency and low treatment adherence among patients is a major barrier to ending the TB epidemic. The WHO promotes digital adherence technologies (DATs) as...

Contraceptive use among female head porters: implications for health policy and programming in Ghana

ObjectiveDespite the growing literature on the barriers to contraceptives use among women, the perspective of female head porters has not been exhaustively researched. Using Bronfenbrenner's socio-ecological theory, we explore the factors that influence the contraceptive decision-making of migrant female head porters in the Kumasi Metropolis and the implications for health policy and planning. MethodologyA case study of female head porters in the Kumasi Metropolis was conducted. We employed a qualitative approach in the collection and analysis of the data. A combination of cluster, purposive, and convenience sampling procedures was used to select 48 migrant female head porters to participate in semi-structured in-depth interviews. The data collected were analyzed using the thematic analytical framework. ResultsWe found the main barriers to the uptake of contraception among the head porters to include high cost of contraceptives, perceived side effects associated with contraceptive use, and the disapproval of a male sexual partners. ConclusionThe findings indicate that head porters' contraceptive decision-making is largely influenced by their social and economic circumstances. To address these, we recommend a carefully tailored approach, starting with a free National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) enrollment policy for all head porters in the country. There is also the need for the Ghana Health Service, and NGOs in health to work together to create effective awareness among female head porters on the benefits and misconceptions of contraception by incorporating culturally appropriate education that would facilitate the adoption of positive attitudes towards contraception. Additionally, NGOs in health in collaboration with the health facilities should initiate a process that encourages joint reproductive health decision-making among partners which recognises the added value of men's participation. We argue that men's active participation in contraception decision-making could potentially address their scepticism towards uptake.

The enrolment reform of schools and housing price: Empirical evidence from Shanghai, China

Based on the housing transaction data from Shanghai of China, the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model is taken to evaluate the synchronous enrolment policy which aim to equalize access to public and private schools. The results indicate that the policy increased the housing prices of high-quality public primary school districts by an average of 1.6%. Moreover, the policy has different impacts on housing premium in elite school districts at different levels. The estimated values of the housing premium in top-, second- and third-class key primary schools district were 6.7%, 2.5% and −1.2%, respectively. The policy impacted mainly significantly on small-sized houses. For the houses smaller than 40m2 and 40–60m2, the housing premiums were 2.1% and 1.8% respectively. To eliminate the uncertainty of participating in public school enrolment after the failure of enrolment in private schools, many families gave up the rights to choose private schools and bought houses in high-quality public-school districts with lower enrolment risk. The policy inhibited the families’ zeal for choosing high-quality private schools, but intensified the competition of “school selection by housing” for high-quality public schools. In order to bridge the gap between public schools and private schools, systematic policy adjustments are suggested including “double reduction policy”, “muti-schools district policy”, etc.

A New Skyline for Champaign: An Urban Dormitory Transformed

Like many university cities, Champaign, Illinois, has recently experienced a surge in student housing in its Campustown neighborhood, with 25 developments and over 2500 new housing units built from 2008 to 2019. Four of the new buildings exceed 10 stories, far denser and more imposing than the Campustown of only two decades ago. The local conventional wisdom holds that this growth resulted from loosened zoning restrictions, an explanation we reject. Instead, our interviews and document analysis reveal a more complex interplay of infrastructure investment, university enrolment policies, developer decision-making, and investment capital. Our analysis shows how government, developer, and university stakeholders interacted with one another in what Norton Long called the local ecology of games, updating Campustown into a student dormitory for a larger and more elite student body.