Higher Education Enrollment Research Articles

Gendered differences in perceived employability among higher education students in STEM and non-STEM disciplines

ABSTRACT Numerous policy interventions promote gender equity within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) higher education enrolments and careers. Despite this, women in many countries continue to be under-represented and encounter barriers to access and career progression. These concerns are often attributed to gendered technical/technological confidence and gendered perceptions of career. Using an online self-assessment tool, this study reports the employability confidence of 12,708 university students. Utilising five employability constructs to assess the confidence of STEM and non-STEM women and men, we found that women in STEM were often more confident than men. Moreover, women in STEM reported higher confidence than women in non-STEM. These novel findings might help inform policies and strategies to attract and retain women in STEM degrees and careers. We emphasise the need to focus on career transition and advancement support given that women are confident whilst studying, yet less likely than men to advance in their careers.

Returns to higher education in China – evidence from the 1999 higher education expansion using a fuzzy regression discontinuity

ABSTRACT China experienced a 47% expansion in higher education enrolment between 1998 and 1999 and a sixfold expansion in the decade to 2008. Using a fuzzy discontinuity in the months of births, we show that the 1999 expansion increased education by roughly 1 year around the cut-off point. Importantly, each additional year of university education induced by the expansion increases monthly earnings by 24%, whereas the corresponding OLS estimate is only 8%. Our findings are insensitive to alternative window widths, functional forms or the exclusion of the self-employed.

Demographics of Sudanese University Students in Relation to Regional Development and Conflict

This research examines regional differences in higher education participation rates in Sudan, and their relations with socioeconomic factors related to development, such as HDI, women's status, urban/rural, and source of income. We pay special attention to areas of Sudan where long-running conflicts exist. Two datasets are used: the 2009 National Baseline Household Survey, conducted by Sudan's Central Bureau of Statistics; and 2016-17 matriculating students' data, obtained from Sudan's Ministry of Education. Regression analysis of the household survey data shows that the most significant factors associated with university attendance are having electricity at home, having a mother who has completed primary education, and being from a non-conflict region. University entrance data shows that young adults from conflict regions lag markedly behind the rest of Sudan in entering students' academic level. Educational resources in Sudan are densely concentrated in the capital Khartoum, and higher-performing students (especially males) from all regions tend to enroll in universities in Khartoum. Regional universities' student bodies consist largely of lower-performing students from the same region, especially in conflict regions. Women's participation in higher education is robust, and women bachelor's students outnumber men. Our analysis suggests that the following policies could be most effective in improving regional higher education enrollment rates and outcomes: (1) improve infrastructure (electric power in particular) in underserved regions; (2) provide widespread primary education for women; (3) Put additional resources into regional universities, to encourage geographical diversity and to better serve women in underdeveloped regions.

The Impact of Higher Education on Economic Growth in ASEAN-5 Countries

This study analyzed the nonlinear impacts of education, particularly higher education, on economic growth in the ASEAN-5 countries (i.e., Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines) over the period 2000–2018. The impacts of education on economic growth are assessed through various education indicators, consisting of public expenditure on tertiary education per student, enrolment rates of primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, educated workforce, and the novel indicator of unemployment rates with advanced education. This study establishes nonlinear regression models—the time-series kink regression and the panel kink regression—to investigate the kink effects of education on the individual country’s economic growth and the ASEAN-5 region, respectively. There are three main findings. Firstly, the nonlinear effects of the government expenditure per tertiary student on economic growth are confirmed for the ASEAN-5 region. However, the impacts do not follow the law of diminishing returns. Secondly, our findings reveal that an increase in unemployment of advanced educated workers can positively or negatively impact economic growth, which requires an appropriate policy to handle the negative impacts. Lastly, secondary and higher education enrollment rates can contribute to the ASEAN-5’s economic growth (both the individual and regional levels). However, the regional analysis reveals that higher education impacts become twice as strong when the enrollment rates are greater than a certain level (a kink point). Therefore, we may conclude that secondary enrollment rates positively affect economic growth; however, higher education is the key to future growth and sustainability.

Students' choice of international branch campus in Malaysia: a gender comparative study

PurposeIn the last decade, female students' enrolment in higher education has experienced significant growth. However, male and female students still differ in criteria set of choosing higher education institutions. While several studies have been disentangled in developed countries in analyzing gender differences in pursuing higher education, a similar area of studies conducted in developing countries is scarce. The purpose of this study is to examine gender differences and the factors that influence first-year students' choice of higher education in a developing country.Design/methodology/approachThe study involved 575 students who were either enrolled in an undergraduate or foundation program of an international branch campus. We tested the hypotheses using partial least squares multigroup analysis (PLS-MGA).FindingsOur results revealed that graduate employability, information sources, program characteristics, institution characteristics and campus safety were influential factors affecting the students' institutional choice. The MGA results also indicated that gender differences exist in selecting higher education institutions. Male students are more strongly influenced by information sources such as family, friends, media compared with female students.Originality/valueVery few international branch campus choice studies explore gender differences in developing countries. This study enriches the current literature of institutional choice through the lens of an Asian developing country and extends the discourse regarding the role of gender in influencing students' institutional choice, of which they are commonly overlooked in most literature. The study has significant implications for student recruitment managers in higher education institution to develop marketing strategies targeting to potential male and female students.

Chinese Rural Female Students’ Access to Higher Education

The extent of women’s educational rights does not depend entirely on political, economic and social factors, but is also closely related to sociocultural traditions. In China, the rights to education are not only the basis for women’s life, but also the symbol of women’s liberation as the level of education and culture represent the ability of women and the driving force that helps with improving women’s educational destination. The educational level of rural women and the overall development of the whole society, however, are of vital importance. Rural education is the foundation and key to solve Chinese equal education in the future, and the development and improvement of rural women’s access to higher education is more related to rural gender equity, education harmony and new rural construction. Firstly, the paper will review the background of Chinese rural female students in accessing to higher education and why it’s important for rural women to achieve academic and personal development. Second, it will expound the status quo of rural women’s higher education in China at three levels of entity, consciousness and policy. Finally, the paper will critically analyze international and national policies and practices that assigned to address Chinese rural female students’ enrollment in higher education and give corresponding recommendations.

The Antecedent Role of Proactive Personality in Career Self-Management

The Antecedent Role of Proactive Personality in Career Self-Management Lulu Yu (bio), Weiqiao Fan (bio), Zhiwei Wang (bio), Xiaofang Wang (bio), and Chuan Yu (bio) After the implementation of the Chinese Higher Education Enrollment Policy in 1999, the Ministry of Chinese Education (2017) reported that the number of undergraduates had increased dramatically, up to nearly 8 million in 2018. Meanwhile, because of global competition, technological advances, and job insecurity, personal career development for these students has become more and more sophisticated and even beyond their understanding (Inkson, 2004). This may result in a series of adaptation problems for undergraduates in their career development, such as low awareness of the need to seek professional and career information and lack of career goals. Wang (2018) reported that only 49% of 2017 undergraduates were hired into jobs that matched their majors, only 67% were satisfied with their jobs, and around 33% left their positions within 6 months. A survey in 2010 showed that only 58% of employers were satisfied with the overall performance of those employees who had graduated from universities within the preceding 5 years (Department of Employment Promotion, 2011). Accordingly, it is of great importance to increase the level of career self-management among Chinese undergraduates so that they can improve their career development and adaptation. According to the career self-management model (Lent & Brown, 2013), two factors should be important predictors of undergraduates' career goals: personality traits and social cognitive variables. Personality traits are the relatively stable tendencies that coordinate behavioral performance and regulate emotions; these traits influence undergraduates' career exploration. Social cognitive variables include such attributes as sense of self-efficacy, outcome expectation, and career goal. Self-efficacy refers to the belief about one's own ability to manage and address specific tasks and unusual challenges, which is relevant in the process of career exploration and decision making. Outcome expectation involves the anticipated consequences of performing those behaviors that are seen as leading to a specific result. Career goal refers to an individual's career exploratory plans and intentions to perform a particular behavior in their career development. The career selfmanagement model has been empirically supported in the literature. For example, Lent et al. (2016) reported that the personality trait of conscientiousness has direct effects on career self-efficacy and goals and indirect effects on career outcome expectations. Proactive personality, a type of personality disposed toward proactive behavior, is regarded as having a relatively stable tendency to affect individuals' activities (Bateman & Crant, 1993). It is empirically supported to predict work performance, innovative behaviors, and job satisfaction (Zhang & Yang, 2017). A sample of international students showed that their proactive behaviors, particularly [End Page 351] information-seeking behaviors, were positively linked to their communication satisfaction with instructors and to their school-life satisfaction (Cho & Lee, 2016). The results from a sample of 180 full-time employees and their supervisors over 2 years indicated that proactive personality was related to career initiative, which in turn had a positive relationship to career progression (salary growth and the number of promotions during the previous 2 years) and career satisfaction (Seibert et al., 2001). Some researchers have reported that those people with higher levels of proactive disposition are more conscientious (Major et al., 2006) and that proactive personality is related to career self-efficacy in career exploration (Qu et al., 2015; Shang & Gan, 2009). In other words, undergraduates who have a stronger sense of responsibility might willingly develop much more selfefficacy or outcome expectations, which in turn may lead to more specific goals in their career development. Few studies have been designed to examine the association among personality variables (e.g., proactive disposition) and career goal intentions, particularly in Chinese undergraduates. Our aim for this study was to verify the antecedent role of proactive personality in terms of the career self-management model among a sample of Chinese undergraduate students. We hypothesized that proactive personality would have effects on career goal via career self-efficacy and outcome expectation. This may provide not only some new evidence for the relationship between personality traits and career goal intentions, but also a new perspective for helping undergraduates develop their career interests and plans and carry out career...

The impact of education levels and paths on labor market outcomes in South Korea: Focusing on vocational high school graduates

Abstract The predominant perception in South Korea is that the route to the best jobs is to attend university. Even two-thirds of vocational high school graduates now go to university. This paper examines the impact of different education paths on employment and wages. Unlike previous research, it takes account of Korea’s unusual education system. It uses not only probit and ordinary least squares models but also a conditional expectation correction method model to tackle unobserved heterogeneity. The paper finds vocational secondary education followed by direct entry into the labor market yields better employment status and wages than higher education, when controlling for family and individual characteristics. This result challenges the appropriateness of Korea’s current education strategy of maximizing higher education enrollments.

The impact of university reputation on employment opportunities: Experimental evidence from Bolivia

Higher education enrolment and graduation rates have increased rapidly inter-generationally across much of the world, offering employers the promise of more knowledgeable recruits and promising individuals new means of social advancement. In the case of Bolivia, the labour force is becoming more heterogeneous over time, which could imply positive effects induced by a closer match between labour supply and recruiters’ needs. However, we show that this is not the case. We revisit the transition mechanisms from college to the workplace, positing recruiters’ interpretations of educational credentials as a crucial determining factor for employability in the formal sector. In a two-branch correspondence study, 2848 fictitious CVs were sent to 1424 formal firms in the three main urban Bolivian areas. We find a large university reputation premium. Applicants from well-valued universities are around 40% more likely to receive a positive response – a 2.25 percentage point advantage from a 7.87% baseline likelihood. Thus, the increasingly heterogeneous labour force is generating additional informational frictions in the labour market, rather than promoting a more efficient matching process.

Does Technological Development Explain Higher Education Expansion?

Globalisation and the development of technology called forth an expansion and a fundamental transformation of systems of higher education around the world. This research proposes a theoretical model that demonstrates that the growth in higher education enrolment is in response to technological shocks in which either high-skill-biased technologies, technologies replacing middle-skill workers or technologies raising the productivity of high-skill workers, which increases the wage premium of high-skill workers. The authors illustrate the workings of the model using Russian data for 2000–2018, discuss changes in the structure of the labour force, relative wages and enrolment in higher education during the last twenty years

“What’s High School Got to do With It?” Secondary School Composition, School-Wide Social Capital and Higher Education Enrollment

This study investigates whether the ethnic and socioeconomic composition of the secondary school affect higher education enrollment and program choice (non-university higher education or university) in an educational system using a separation model. School-wide social capital is investigated as an underlying mechanism to explain how school composition affects higher education enrollment. Results of logistic multilevel analyses, carried out on the International Study of City Youth (ISCY) data of 1131 Flemish students across 30 schools, demonstrated that students enrolled in migrant concentration schools showed lower rates of higher education attendance because these schools were associated with a low socioeconomic composition. Attending high migrant composition schools and/or high socioeconomic composition schools was beneficial to attend university programs. High-quality peer relationships mediated these composition effects. Additionally, a boosting effect of teacher-student relationships and a buffering effect of high-quality peer relations at school were found, rendering these interesting tools for educational policy makers to decrease social inequality in higher education enrollment and program choice.

Compensatory and Multiplicative Advantages: Social Origin, School Performance, and Stratified Higher Education Enrolment in Finland

AbstractThe rules of intake, which determine how educational institutions are accessed, play a significant part in generating intergenerational educational inequalities. Different rules may allow parental advantages to compensate for students’ lack of advantages (such as academic performance) or to multiply and help only those students who are in a position to use such additional advantages. In this article, we study compensation and the multiplication of advantages in the context of the Finnish higher education system. Entrance exams and a dual model (universities and polytechnics) make this system stand out among many other Western countries and hence suitable for this study. Using high-quality Finnish register data, we study the associations between parental education and stratified higher education enrolment across the school performance distribution. Our results show that polytechnics provide access for poorly performing students from higher social origins (compensatory advantage). Polytechnic education also attracts well-performing students from lower social origins, which leads to a situation in which well-performing students with higher social origins have a substantially larger probability of enrolling in university compared to well-performing students with lower social origins (multiplicative advantage).

Institutional Challenges that affect Readiness for Access to Higher Education by Students with Disabilities(SWD) in Public universities in Kenya

Access to education implies an individual’s presence, participation, acceptance and achievement in a learning institution.Kenya promotes education for all, but SWD are less than 1% of the enrolment in higher education(HE). This research presents challenges public universities experience in their pursuit for readiness to improve access to HE by students with disabilities (SWD). A case study basic qualitative research method of a descriptive nature is used because disability is about experiences of persons with disabilities(PWD) in relation to the environments they constantly interact with; the meaning they ascribe to the same and that it evidently affects a small percentage of the population.University administrators (Academic registrars and deans of students),SWD and lecturers who taught them at the time of the research comprised the target population. Sample participation encompassed 202 SWD, 46 lecturers and11 administrators, from 6 public universities. The tools of research were questionnaire for each of the target group, focus group discussion (FGD) for SWD and an observation checklist. Data analysis was done through IBM SPSS 23 computer package by use of descriptive statistics . Tables helped in the presentation of data. It was revealed that universities face challenges in their endeavor and process of being ready for access to H.E by SWD. Recommendation was that universities should adopt a Universal Design model in order to address these challenges. Keywords: Institutional readiness, Access, Higher Education, Students with disabilities, challenges DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-31-01 Publication date: November 30 th 2020

Pharmacy Education: Moving Early and Responding Strongly

In a country with 1.3 billion population and about 1,000 universities and more than 50,000 higher education institutions and enrollment of 30 million students and a diverse demography, to find a single solution that can keep the teaching and learning process continued was a mammoth task. The focus was on engaging the students and completing the academic sessions. Having crossed the phase of teaching and learning, the institutions are now grappling as to how the examinations and progression of these students be considered. Learning from global experiences and a bit of innovation, this too has been overcome with methodologies that would have been unacceptable earlier. The challenge presently is the preparedness of higher education in the post pandemic period.

In Search of a New Sympoiesis: A Review of Higher Education Admissions in Uzbekistan

Current comprehensive changes in the field of higher education in Uzbekistan have a potential impact on the overall enrollment in higher education. Rigid admission quotas in Uzbekistan are slowly conceding to a more market-based admissions and student recruitment to support reforms implementation. Cursory glance at the reforms fails to explain unprecedented growth of application numbers to higher education in 2019/20 or conjecture about future application patterns. Research presented in this paper aims to investigate the trends in higher education admissions in Uzbekistan through document analysis. It further draws on the effects of the government policy and legislation changes on the admission numbers in Uzbekistan and attempts to shed light on the future dynamics of student recruitment in higher education. The findings suggest that profound all-encompassing reforms in Uzbekistan have, firstly, precipitously increased relevant-age application numbers for 2019/20 academic year, but analysis suggests that this trend is unlikely to continue in the future.

The Position of STEM Higher Education Courses in the Labor Market

Using the Hungarian Higher Education Enrollment and Student Statistics, we address the major higher educational challenges facing STEM education, not only in Hungary but also in the European Union. We include the lack of methodologies for a transition to upper secondary education, the low enrollment rate for STEM programs and the high drop-out rates in these programs for various countries, including the presence of 'fall objects'. Based on enrollment numbers, we capture the characteristics of STEM undergraduate and graduate courses and training institutions, highlighting the regional differences and the resulting individual interventions.
 Examining the statistical evidence behind STEM training, we conclude that Hungarian applicants for higher education do not have sufficient information concerning possible STEM career paths. The Labor market needs are not sufficiently reflected in curriculums and the development of basic competencies are not provided. The education is, therefore, typically, far from real-world workplace situations and problem-solving needs.
 This study points to a need to reinterpret STEM training, to ensure future supply, through training and career guidance, highlighting a more active involvement of women and disadvantaged groups in STEM courses.

Cross-Cultural Factors That Influence Adjustment Process of International Students in Malaysian Public Universities

International students’ enrolment in higher education in Malaysia has expanded widely in scope, volume, and complexity, giving rise to a myriad of challenges and difficulties in their adjustment process, which have to be understood and addressed. In this study, the cross-cultural factors that influence psychological, sociocultural, and self-realization adjustments amongst international students studying in Malaysian public universities were examined. The purpose of this research was to gauge a better understanding of the difficulties and challenges encountered by them when pursuing higher education opportunities in Malaysian public universities, and how they had managed to overcome the necessary adjustments. A research survey based on 31item questionnaires was formulated. Stratified random sampling methodology was adopted in the distribution of 250 questionnaires, with a total of 218 responses received. Data were coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences’ software. The variables, socio-cultural adjustment, and self-realization adjustment showed negative correlations towards their adjustment process. The outcomes should enable university faculties and staff to recognize foreign students’ needs, and effectively offer supportive campus resources and services to assist them in their adjustment process.

Sub-Sahara Africa’s Higher Education: Financing, Growth, and Em-ployment

Although higher education plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa, enrollment in universities in the region is unexpectedly low compared to other regions. However, Sub-Saharan African countries have made strides in increasing access to higher education amidst constraints and challenges. The efforts have led to increases in enrollment and what many countries did not anticipate is the increase in unemployment from the greater output of students. In this study, we use panel data from eleven Sub-Saharan African countries for 2000-2018 to analyze the relationship between higher education and unemployment. A panel fixed effect model was estimated, and the results indicate that unemployment has a negative and significant effect on higher enrollment. Besides, higher education enrollment has a significant but negative effect on employment. Per capita income significantly affects enrollment into higher education and has the expected sign. The estimates further show that government expenditures on higher education play a significant role in the demand for places in higher education.

Research on the Strategies of Improving the Teaching Ability of University Teachers

Education is the cornerstone of national development and a significant way to improve the basic quality of the people. As the main practitioner of education, teachers play an important role in education. As the highest level of our education system, higher education is not only the power source of implementing the strategy of strengthening our country with talents, but also an important guarantee of building an innovative country. With the increasing enrollment of higher education, it is very urgent to improve the teaching quality of higher education. Among many influencing factors, the teaching ability of university teachers is the most direct and important one. Through the analysis of the significance of improving the teaching ability of university teachers, this paper puts forward some effective ways to improve the teaching ability of university teachers.

Practice and Exploration of Contemporary College Students’ Career Planning

With the implementation of China’s higher education enrollment expansion policy and the optimization and upgrading of the social industrial structure, the current employment situation faced by college students is becoming more severe. For many college students, graduation means unemployment. The education activities of college students’ career planning are essential to provide scientific guidance to college students’ employment activities, so that they can form a scientific concept of employment and seek new employment opportunities. This article mainly explores the career planning practice of contemporary college students, aiming to be able to discover the new employment situation of college students, propose new precautions and ideas, so as to improve the employment quality of college students in China.