Success in the University Admission Process in Germany: Regional Provenance Matters
Abstract
School education in Germany is under the responsibility of the federal states and as a consequence average grades differ widely across regions. Since school leavers apply nationwide for admission to university, regional provenance may thus matter a lot for the success probability in the admission process. Using a comprehensive dataset of the German central clearing house for university admissions in 2006/2007, we show that success rates indeed differ dramatically between federal states, provided that grades are not made comparable across state boundaries. Most of the variation in success can be explained by state-level differences in grading. By defining quotas for federal states and restricting competition among applicants to the state-level, the link between state-level grading and success rates in the university admission process can be broken.Download Info
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Paper provided by DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research in its series Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin with number 789.Length: 13 p.
Date of creation: 2008
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in: Higher Education 58 (2009) 1, 71-80
Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp789
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Related research
Keywords: Admission to university; central clearing house; federalism; federal education system;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
- I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education and Research Institutions
- H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2008-05-17 (All new papers)
- NEP-EDU-2008-05-17 (Education)
- NEP-EEC-2008-05-17 (European Economics)
- NEP-PBE-2008-05-17 (Public Economics)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Sebastian Braun & Nadja Dwenger & Dorothea Kübler, 2010.
"Telling the Truth May Not Pay Off: An Empirical Study of Centralized University Admissions in Germany,"
The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy,
De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 22.
- Sebastian Braun & Nadja Dwenger & Dorothea Kübler, 2007. "Telling the Truth May Not Pay Off: An Empirical Study of Centralised University Admissions in Germany," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2007-070, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
- Braun, Sebastian & Dwenger, Nadja & Kübler, Dorothea, 2007. "Telling the Truth May Not Pay Off: An Empirical Study of Centralised University Admissions in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 3261, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Dwenger, Nadja & Kübler, Dorothea & Weizsäcker, Georg, 2013.
"Preference for randomization: Empirical and experimental evidence,"
Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior
SP II 2013-201, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB).
- Nadja Dwenger & Dorothea Kübler & Georg Weizsäcker, 2013. "Preference for Randomization: Empirical and Experimental Evidence," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2013-004, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
- Horstschräer, Julia, 2011.
"University rankings in action? The importance of rankings and an excellence competition for university choice of high-ability students?,"
ZEW Discussion Papers
11-061, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
- Horstschräer, Julia, 2012. "University rankings in action? The importance of rankings and an excellence competition for university choice of high-ability students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1162-1176.
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