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Higher Education Reform, Student Time Allocation and Academic Performance in Italy: Evidence from a Faculty of Economics

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  • Massimiliano Bratti
  • Chiara Broccolini
  • Stefano Staffolani

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the effect of the restructuring of university studies that took place in Italy after the introduction of the «3+2» reform on student time allocation and performance. We use data from an Economics Faculty and propensity score matching, which allow us to account for many confounding factors that are likely to affect the before-after reform comparison, to investigate changes in student time allocation and performance in the first-year exams. Our analysis provides lower bound estimates of the change in lecture attendance, self-study time and student performance after the reform, showing that despite a decrease in workload, student performance measured in terms of average grades and of number of exam attempts failed improved. We argue that although this can be explained either by an increase in university effectiveness or by grade inflation, several pieces of evidence support the second explanation.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimiliano Bratti & Chiara Broccolini & Stefano Staffolani, 2010. "Higher Education Reform, Student Time Allocation and Academic Performance in Italy: Evidence from a Faculty of Economics," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 275-304.
    • Handle: RePEc:mul:jqat1f:doi:10.1427/32732:y:2010:i:2:p:275-304
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    Cited by:

    1. Nocito, Samuel, 2021. "The effect of a university degree in english on international labor mobility," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Marelli Enrico & Sciulli Dario & Signorelli Marcello, 2014. "Skill mismatch of graduates in a local labour market," Экономика региона, CyberLeninka;Федеральное государственное бюджетное учреждение науки «Институт экономики Уральского отделения Российской академии наук», issue 2, pages 181-194.
    3. Giorgio Di Pietro, 2012. "The Bologna Process and widening participation in university education: new evidence from Italy," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 357-374, August.
    4. Laura Chies & Grazia Graziosi & Francesco Pauli, 2019. "The Impact of the Bologna Process on Graduation: New Evidence from Italy," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(2), pages 203-218, March.
    5. Carmen Aina, 2010. "The Determinants of Educational Attainment, University Drop-out and Time-to-Degree. A focus on Italy," Working Papers 132, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.
    6. Carmen Aina, 2010. "University Drop-out in Italy," Working Papers 134, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.
    7. Lerche, Katharina, 2016. "The effect of the Bologna Process on the duration of studies," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 287, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.

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