Miroslav Beblavy

Lessons from the Expansion of the Upper Secondary Education for the Expansion of the Tertiary Education

In this paper, we present the historical time series of enrollment rates in upper secondary schooling in five European countries. The presented data were examined in light of reform attempts aimed at expansions of schooling with the aim to derive lessons for the expansion of the tertiary sector. We were particularly interested in the speed and the differentiation of the expansion. We find that the expansion happened at different speed. It took 9 to 26 years for a country to massify its upper secondary education and further 11 to 41 years to universalize it, with gross enrollment rates reaching 80%. The expansion was slower in the leaders of expansion, such as the United Kingdom or Sweden. In contrast, laggards were able to catch up relatively fast, once the limiting conditions of expansion were removed. Although there has been a general trend towards expansion of the general upper secondary education, the popularity of vocational tracks has been diverse across examined countries.

Do Acquaintances and Friends Make Us Learn? Social Capital and Lifelong Learning in Germany

This paper examines the relationship between social capital and adult learning. We test this association empirically using measures of various types of social capital and adult learning based on the German Socioeconomic Panel. We use predetermined measures of social capital to exclude social skills or friends encountered during the adult education class. Fixed effects for latent underlying factors such as deep personality traits and instrumental variables account for changing personality traits. We find that most of our social capital measures have a signi ficant and positive impact on the probabilities for investing in various types of adult learning. The size of the effect varies across the different measures between increasing the probability of participating in adult learning by 0.04% to increasing the probability by 17%. We find evidence that acquaintances are more likely to increase participation in adult learning than friends.

Demand for Low- and Medium-Skilled Workers Across Europe: Between Formal Qualifications and Non-Cognitive Skills

This paper analyses job advertisements posted on the public EU portal EURES to identify the specific skills and characteristics that are demanded in the European labour market in selected low- and medium-skilled occupations and in different sectors. This research is innovative in exploring online job advertisement data from the EURES website and quantifying different skills, personal attributes and characteristics requested by employers in three countries: the Czech Republic, Denmark and Ireland. While we find that the service sector demands non-cognitive skills more than other types of occupations, the skill-demanded mix is very diverse across the countries analysed, implying that there is no universal demand and that domestic institutions and structures affect how demand is formulated. We point to potential limits of ‘European occupational labour markets’ as we find that employers’ preferences across the three countries seem rather distinct for similar types of jobs. Our work shows that online portals can become a useful source for gathering information about the content and specificities of demand at the micro-level.

Learning at Every Age? Life Cycle Dynamics of Adult Education in Europe

Adult learning is seen as a key factor for enhancing employment, innovation and growth. The aim of this paper is to understand the points in the life cycle at which adult learning takes place and whether it leads to reaching a medium or high level of educational attainment. We perform a synthetic panel analysis of adult learning for cohorts aged 25–64 in 27 European countries using the European Union Labour Force Survey. We find that investment across the life cycle by cohorts older than 25 still occurs: participation in education and training as well as educational attainment increase observably across all cohorts. We also find that the decline with age slows down, or is even reversed for older cohorts, for both participation in education and educational attainment. Finally, we can identify cross-country differences in approach. In Nordic countries, adult learning is achieved primarily through participation in education and training without adding to formal educational attainment. In central Europe, adult learning occurs primarily in the form of increasing educational attainment. In Ireland and the UK, a combination of both approaches to adult learning is observable.

Expansion of Higher Education and Declining Quality of Degrees

In this paper we study theoretically how the expansion of higher education could be associated with several factors indicating a decline in the quality of degrees. We assume that the expansion of tertiary education happens through three channels and show how they are likely to reduce average study time, average wages and increase grades. Firstly, universities have an incentive through public and private funding schemes to increase their student body beyond a level where they can keep their requirements on a high level. Secondly, due to skill-biased technological change, employers have the incentive to employ mostly labour with a higher education degree. Thirdly, students have the incentive to acquire a college degree due to the employment rules, the university application rules and through the rising social reputation of education. We develop a parsimonious dynamic model in which a student, a college and an employer repeatedly make decisions about requirement levels, performance and wage levels. Our model shows that if (1) universities have the incentive to decrease entry requirements, (2) employers are more likely to employ labour with a higher education degree and (3) all types of students enroll in colleges, the grade will not necessarily act as a mechanism to make weaker students study to catch up with the more able students. In order to reestablish a quality guaranteeing mechanism, entry requirements should be set to a higher level.

Do the Effects of Pro-Equality Education Policies Differ across the Performance Distribution?

The effect of specific education policies, such as ability grouping, preschool attendance on educational outcomes and equity has been the subject of much scholarly and political debate. Our paper adds to this debate by examining the association between such policies and equity for children of different abilities. In this way we arrive at a nuanced picture of how such specific education policies might affect different children. We study the issue at a country level for 29 OECD countries with identical methodology, enabling us to show cross-country differences. Linear regression results show that countries differ in terms of how the policy measures are correlated with equity and educational outcomes. Concentrating on equity, quantile regression results indicate that in most countries the association between education policy variables and equity is evenly distributed across the ability distribution. In some countries, however, (Austria, Spain, the US, Belgium, Latvia and Hungary) the policy variables have an especially stratifying or an especially equalising effect for the less able and in other countries for the more able. This means that ability grouping and/or participation in pre-primary education can reinforce or cushion the negative effect of a low socio-economic background more either for the more, the less able or at the median. This means that policy makers – especially in these countries mentioned – should take into account that ability grouping or participation in pre-primary education might have a different effect at different ends of the performance distribution.

Does the Growth in Higher Education Mean a Decline in the Quality of Degrees? The Role of Economic Incentives to Increase College Enrolment Rates

In this paper we construct a theory about how the expansion of higher education could be associated with several factors that indicate a decrease in the quality of degrees. We assume that the expansion of tertiary education takes place through three channels, and show how they are likely to reduce average study time, academic requirements and average wages, and inflate grades. First, universities have an incentive to increase their student body through public and private funding schemes beyond a level where they can keep their academic requirements high. Second, due to skill-biased technological change, employers have an incentive to recruit staff with a higher education degree. Third, students have an incentive to acquire a college degree due to employers’ preferences for such qualifications, the university application procedures and through the growing social value placed on education. We develop a parsimonious dynamic model in which a student, a college and an employer repeatedly make decisions about requirement levels, performance and wage levels. Our model shows that if i) universities have the incentive to decrease entrance requirements, ii) employers are more likely to employ staff with a higher education degree and iii) all types of students enrol in colleges, the final grade will not necessarily induce weaker students to study more to catch up with more able students. In order to re-establish a quality-guarantee mechanism, entrance requirements should be set at a higher level. CEPS Working Documents are intended to give an indication of work being conducted within CEPS’ research programmes and to stimulate reactions from other experts in the field. The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of CEPS.

Where and When Does Adult Learning Happen? A Cohort Analysis of Adult Education Acquisition in Europe

Adult learning and a resulting up-skilling of the population is seen as a key factor for employment, innovation and growth as the vast literature on “lifelong learning” suggests. Commonly, adult learning is understood as the participation in training classes, which either provide a formal degree or not. There are also forms of adult learning that necessarily lead to a raise in ISCED levels such as evening classes to obtain a baccalaureate or bachelor classes for professionals. In this working document we examine to what extent adult learning can happen as a result of a formal increase in ISCED level and compare this type of education acquisition to participation rates in training. We compare 27 European OECD countries and perform a descriptive cohort analysis in order to find out when the adult learning is most likely to happen. We use the European Labour Force Survey and construct a synthetic panel in order to compare cohorts ranging from 24 to 59. We find as previous results suggest that a rise in ISCED levels - as well as training - happens mostly at young age. Under our assumptions, the up-skilling from the medium to the high education levels is in most countries larger in terms of percentage points than the one from the low to the medium level. Countries with relatively high levels of adult up-skilling in ISCED levels are mainly Central-European countries. These countries do not necessarily also have high levels in participation in training. Countries with relatively high levels of training participation are mainly the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Our findings show that adult learning can also happen as a result of ISCED up-skilling and does not necessarily need to happen through training. Furthermore, in terms of training we find that the dynamics over the years for the younger and the older cohorts are different across countries: the younger cohort invests most in training when they are 20-29 but for the older cohort this is not necessarily true and investment in training is more likely to be hump-shaped or sometimes increasing.