The demand for higher education facing an individual institution

The purpose of this paper is to provide an estimate of the elasticity and cros-selasticities of demand for higher education facing an individual institution. The utility which a high school graduate derives from each educational option open to him is assumed to be a stochastic function of the attributes of that option. For certain types of utility functions the maximization of utility results in the logit probability model. This model is used to analyze the choices made by a sample of high school graduates in Hawaii. Estimates of the price elasticity and the cross-price elasticities of demand for enrollment at the University of Hawaii are obtained. It is found that the demand is quite inelastic with respect to both tuition and total cost of education. These estimates imply that changes in tuition will not affect enrollment appreciably.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Arthur S. Goldberger, H. Laurence Miller, and Pan A. Yotopoulos for their comments on earlier drafts of the paper.     

International demand for American higher education

This study examines the issue as to whether U.S. educational institutions need a significant change in their policy to deal with the increasing number of foreign students on U.S. campuses. Projections for the 1980s are made using Box-Jenkins and other forecasting techniques. Factors that led to the rapid growth of foreign students in the past are reviewed. The likelihood of their continuation is examined. In the light of these factors, policy implications of the projections are discussed.     

A quantitative analysis of the demand for higher education

This article analyses the plans of a sample of 7425 secondary school children in Greece regarding their demand for further education. A set of family, personal, geographical and school characteristics are related by means of multivariate analysis to the pupil's decision to continue or not his/her studies and to the particular institution of higher education he/she aspired entry. The maximum likelihood estimates of the yes-no pupil decision indicate the dominance of school grade as a key variable affecting plans for further study. An educational production function revealed in turn that it is mainly parents' education that relates to scholastic achievement. The article also contains empirical estimates of the relative strength of several family and school factors affecting self-selection which may make the results useful to policy makers who attempt to influence the social demand for post-secondary education.     

The demand for student loans in higher education: A study of preferences and attitudes

This empirical study examined postsecondary-student attitudes and preferences regarding five discrete student loan plans and loan plan features. Certain demographic variables were examined for their relationship to student attitudes toward the various loan plans. The study addressed the following questions: What debt ceiling do students identify as acceptable? Are students willing to indebt themselves over an extended time span? What percent of annual income do they feel reasonably can be applied to loan repayment? Will students alter their repayment plan choices given additional and more detailed information about loan options? A random sample of 218 recipients of federal higher education loans during the 1973–74 academic year was drawn from the population of 6,765 undergraduate borrowers at the University Park Campus of the Pennsylvania State University.     

International demand for American higher education: An extension

This article reports the estimated effects of a country's population and income on its citizens' demand for American higher education. Data are from 1978, 1982, and 1987. With the behavioral variables, the model includes binary variables for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Asian countries. Population significantly affects demand, but the effect is not proportional: A 10% increase in population causes demand for American higher education to rise by about 2%. The impact of income is similar; for this variable, the estimated elasticity is about 0.1. Together, these findings suggest that countries meet the majority of any change in their citizens' demand with domestic supply. For 1978 and 1982, OPEC provided considerably more students than other countries, other things being equal. By 1987. This difference had vanished. At the same time, Asian countries were providing more students than other countries, other things being equal, and the difference increased monotonically through time.     

高等教育与古今社会中个体流动关系的历史考察

在社会历史发展进程中,高等教育个体社会流动功能的发挥须依托一定的社会背景,其中最重要的就是当时社会的分层状态与流动状态.在我国不同历史时期,即中国古代社会、近代社会、当代社会,高等教育与个体流动关系也表现出不同的特征,其总体趋势是随着历史发展,高等教育个体流动功能逐步放大,其中也有短暂反复,呈螺旋式上升态势.     

The demand for higher education in Cyprus: an educational policy perspective

The article examines the reasons for the high demand for higher education in Cyprus. At present, economic, societal, and cultural forces are widely accepted as responsible for the phenomenal increase in demand. A survey of secondary school final form students conducted in Cyprus by the author reconfirms the importance of these forces but also points to another demand influencing factor, namely, the students' psychological motivation in the pursuit of higher studies. The article discusses the policy implications of the findings and suggests the following as measures to help promote a better match between higher education choices and labour market conditions: the provision of greater and more accurate information to secondary school students on the employment opportunities available with a higher education diploma; the promotion of vocational nonuniversity fields of study among secondary school students; and the frequent and closer interaction between higher education institutions and the labour market.     

风险偏好对个人高等教育需求影响的实证研究--以高中生对农业、林业和师范院校需求为例

本文以高中生对农业、林业和师范院校的需求为切入点,探讨了风险因素对个人高等教育需求的影响。实证分析表明,在控制性别、学术能力和高等教育预期收益率等变量情况下,高中生的风险偏好对学生选择农业、林业和师范院校有显著影响。从教育政策制定角度看,如何提高社会弱势群体承受教育投资风险能力的问题值得人们关注。     

Factors influencing the demand for higher education: The case of Cyprus

The proportion of young people opting for third level education in Cyprus is exceptionally high, currently about 60% of the relevant age group. This has caused concern among the country's policy makers who are aware of the limited capacity of the Cyprus economy to accommodate the increasing supply of higher education graduates. In the present study, an attempt is made to identify and examine the factors influencing young Cypriots to select higher education over direct employment at the end of their secondary education. A survey was conducted among 811 final form secondary school students in Cyprus in the academic year 1993/1994. Through factor analysis, seven factors with a potential effect on the students' educational and occupational intentions were identified. They were the following: Psychological/Individual, Occupational I, Occupational II, Economic, Consumption, Secondary School Subjects, and Significant Others. These factors, along with a number of student background characteristics (gender, socioeconomic status, ability, and secondary school specialisation) were used as explanatory variables in a logistic regression model with the student's educational intentions serving as the dependent variable. The psychological/individual factor, the second occupational factor, and secondary school specialisation were shown to have a significant effect on the intention to pursue third level education. The paper points to the importance of analysing and examining student characteristics and motivational patterns in the effort to understand, and, if possible, influence trends in the demand for higher education.     

The improvement of higher education in Indonesia: A project approach

The authors describe an experiment in improving the teaching of chemical engineering in an Indonesian technological university with the assistance of Dutch counterparts. The project approach used was then applied to other universities and disciplines and became part of a general government-sponsored programme aimed at improving the quality of teaching in Indonesian universities generally. The authors claim that practically-orientated projects concerned with the improvement of teaching effectiveness can, by dissemination, lead to a general improvement in the quality and quantity of output from universities.     

A study of accounting students' motives,expectations and preparedness for higher education

Framed by the accounting education change debate and growing national concern regarding student attrition, this paper examines the perceptions of first‐year students as they commence their study of accounting at an Irish university. It explores a range of factors which impact on students' learning: their motives for entering higher education, their rationale for selecting an accounting programme, their preparedness for further study and their expectations. The findings offer accounting educators the opportunity to have a greater sensitivity to, and a better understanding of, their students. This will enable better‐informed curriculum, teaching and assessment within the accounting discipline, aiding students' transition to higher education and leading to higher quality learning.     

Confronting the biases in connoisseur review and performance indicators in higher education: A structural modelling approach

Scholarly productivity and the research reputation of academic staff frequently dominate as criteria in the review of higher education courses, disciplines and institutions, a bias which represents a profound hazard for plausible evaluation. Three distinct outcome constructs were identified from analyses of performance indicator data gathered on the accounting discipline in Australia. They were the scholarly productivity of the academic staff involved, the quality of teaching and learning as perceived by students and graduates, and the academic efficiency, in terms of subject completion rates, with which the courses were conducted. Each outcome was shown to be related in a different manner to various characteristics of the courses investigated. The results challenge the orthodox view that scholarly productivity will lead naturally to other desired outcomes of higher education, question the usual surface level interpretation of performance indicators, and suggest that evaluation in higher education might combine connoisseur and performance indicator approaches within the framework of a realist epistemology, placing emphasis on the structures and mechanisms which generate the diverse and distinct outcomes of different courses.     

The impact of financial aid on women's demand for higher education

The Educational Amendments of 1972 marked a new direction in public policy regarding the scope and purpose of financial aid to higher education. Aid became more student-oriented, and equality of opportunity for higher education became a goal. This empirical study with national longitudinal data has made a start in policy evaluation of the effect of the 1972 Educational Amendments on the higher education acquired by young women. The most important result of financial aid receipt for young women is that those who received aid averaged 0.64 more years completed of higher education and averaged .145 greater graduation probability than similar women who did not receive aid. These results were obtained in multiple regression models in which the effects of marital status, parental background, geographic locations and economic characteristics, and tuition level were controlled for. These results suggest that policy attempts to stimulate the higher education acquired by enrolled young women by increasing the availability of financial aid are well founded.     

Excellence for All: A Nietzschean-inspired approach in professional higher education

Europe’s objectives of economic growth and job creation require large numbers of professionals who are willing and able to innovate and rise above themselves. In this article, a concept of excellence is developed that can be broadly applied in professional higher education. This concept of excellence derives from three concepts which the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche developed in The Gay Science (2001/1887): self-transcendence, self-control and self-styling. By starting with Nietzsche’s radical thoughts, the author aims to grasp the probabilities and challenges of preparing all students for their professional future. Several proposals for educational practice are outlined based on this perspective of ‘excellence for all’.     

学费与高等教育需求和供给

随着世界高等教育大众化的兴起，许多国家出现了高校学生规模激增与政府财政支持能力减退的矛盾，加上计划控制模式的局限性和世界经济一体化的影响，使得世界高等教育朝着市场化的趋势发展。在这种背景下，学费作为一种价格因素，对高等教育需求和供给的作用日益突显出来。在建立高等教育需求与供给模型的基础上，从国内外高等教育的理论与实践及需求的学费弹性方面分析了学费对高等教育需求和供给的影响。     

The changing demand for higher education in the seventies: Adaptations within three national systems

Aspects of decline in the demand for higher education have become apparent in most Western systems of higher education in the mid-seventies. Although these are usually associated with deteriorating labor markets and falling relative earnings of university graduates, analyses of enrollment trends in Belgium, the United States and France reveal that other factors have an important influence upon enrollment levels. In the comparatively elite Belgian university system the maintenance of rigorous academic standards in secondary schools and the universities appears to be responsible for the stagnation in enrollments since 1971. The surprising decline in the enrollment rates of white males in the United States seems to be due to both worsening labor markets and declining academic achievement levels. French university students have responded to the devaluation of university degrees by decreasing the time and effort applied to university study; but even under these circumstances the traumas of the 1976 confrontation have apparently discouraged potential students from enrolling. These developments suggest that the expansion of higher education has reached a set of inherent limitations created by social conditions and educational organization; and that inducing further expansion would do little to raise real educational levels or further social advancement.     

The demand for higher education in The Netherlands, 1950–1999

This paper investigates the role of economic factors in the university enrollment decision for the post-war period in The Netherlands. We include those factors standing at the heart of the idea that education is an investment. The econometric results suggest that students are not responsive to tuition fees, but financial support (the sum of loans and grants), the college premium on future labor market earnings, and the alternative wage are important in the enrollment decision.     

Tax reform and individual giving to higher education

Higher education benefits from a number of special provisions of U.S. tax laws. One of the most important is the deducibility of charitable contributions. One effect of recent proposals for tax reform would be to increase the net cost to donors of making such gifts, thereby reducing current tax incentives to give. Higher education would be especially impacted by such proposals because of its dependence on gifts from high income donors and on gifts of appreciated property. Simulations of taxpayer behavior under the assumption of a passive response by higher education institutions and contributors imply that tax reform could lead to a significant reduction in giving.     

Competition and diversity in higher education: an empirical approach to specialization patterns of Portuguese institutions

The expansion of higher education systems has often been associated with the need for increasing diversification, namely at the program level, based on the pressures to adapt more general programmes to a more diverse student population and multiple regional, social, and economic needs. This paper explores empirically the question of programme diversity by drawing on the Portuguese higher education’ experience, which presented massive expansion during the last decades and significant institutional competition in recent years. The study provides a longitudinal approach and analyzes in detail the evolution of diversification and specialization of the public and private sectors, as well as the university and polytechnic subsectors. The analysis aims at helping to illustrate the relevance of analysing diversity from an empirical point of view and its contribution to our understanding of the complex relationships between competition and diversity in contemporary higher education.