IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iab/iabjlr/v58ipa018.html

The COVID-19 pandemic: a threat to higher education? Evidence from a large university in Northern Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina

    (Department of Economics and Law, Kore University of Enna, Italy)

  • Castagnetti, Carolina

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia, Italy)

Abstract

"Transition to online teaching during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to various concerns about educational quality. The study investigates the consequences of this transition on student performance for a prominent university in Northern Italy. Comprehensive administrative data allows us to monitor students’ performance and to have detailed socioeconomic information About them. Using a difference-in-differences design with lecturer fixed effects, we exploit the unique timing of the lockdown that fell together with the start of the summer term in 2020. We find no marked effects on students’ average grades in higher education in the immediate aftermath of the lockdown." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Castagnetti, Carolina, 2024. "The COVID-19 pandemic: a threat to higher education? Evidence from a large university in Northern Italy," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 58, pages 1-018.
    • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabjlr:v:58:i::p:a018
    DOI: 10.1186/s12651-024-00371-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12651-024-00371-0
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s12651-024-00371-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Castagnetti, Carolina & Giorgetti, Maria Letizia, 2019. "Understanding the gender wage-gap differential between the public and private sectors in Italy: A quantile approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 240-261.
    2. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Adams-Prassl, A. & Boneva, T. & Golin, M & Rauh, C., 2020. "Inequality in the Impact of the Coronavirus Shock: New Survey Evidence for the US," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2022, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    4. Per Engzell & Arun Frey & Mark D. Verhagen, 2021. "Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(17), pages 2022376118-, April.
    5. Ivan A. Canay, 2011. "A simple approach to quantile regression for panel data," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 14(3), pages 368-386, October.
    6. Aucejo, Esteban M. & French, Jacob & Ugalde Araya, Maria Paola & Zafar, Basit, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on student experiences and expectations: Evidence from a survey," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Esteban M. Aucejo & Jane Cooley Fruehwirth & Sean Kelly & Zachary Mozenter, 2022. "Teachers and the Gender Gap in Reading Achievement," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 372-403.
    8. George Bulman & Robert Fairlie, 2022. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Community College Enrollment and Student Success: Evidence from California Administrative Data," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 17(4), pages 745-764, Fall.
    9. Agostinelli, Francesco & Doepke, Matthias & Sorrenti, Giuseppe & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2022. "When the great equalizer shuts down: Schools, peers, and parents in pandemic times," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    10. Bargain, Olivier B. & Etienne, Audrey & Melly, Blaise, 2018. "Public Sector Wage Gaps over the Long-Run: Evidence from Panel Administrative Data," IZA Discussion Papers 11924, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Bacher-Hicks, Andrew & Goodman, Joshua & Mulhern, Christine, 2021. "Inequality in household adaptation to schooling shocks: Covid-induced online learning engagement in real time," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Castagnetti, Carolina, 2021. "The COVID-19 pandemic: A threat to higher education?," Discussion Papers 117, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    2. Binelli, Chiara & Comi, Simona & Meschi, Elena & Pagani, Laura, 2024. "Every cloud has a silver lining: The role of study time and class recordings on university students’ performance during COVID-19," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 305-328.
    3. Guido Neidhöfer & Nora Lustig & Mariano Tommasi, 2021. "Intergenerational transmission of lockdown consequences: prognosis of the longer-run persistence of COVID-19 in Latin America," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(3), pages 571-598, September.
    4. Shinsuke Asakawa & Fumio Ohtake, 2021. "Impact of Temporary School Closure Due to COVID-19 on the Academic Achievement of Elementary School Students," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 21-14, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    5. Nicola Fuchs-Schünde & Dirk Krueger & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2022. "The Long-Term Distributional and Welfare Effects of Covid-19 School Closures," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(645), pages 1647-1683.
    6. Ahn, Kunwon & Lee, Jun Yeong & Winters, John V., 2020. "Employment Opportunities and High School Completion during the COVID-19 Recession," IZA Discussion Papers 13802, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Lee Elliot Major & Andrew Eyles & Stephen Machin, 2021. "Unequal Learning and Labour Market Losses in the Crisis: Consequences for Social Mobility," CEPEO Working Paper Series 21-02, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Mar 2021.
    8. Acuña, Mauricio & Álvarez, Roberto & Avarca, Cristóbal, 2025. "The heterogeneous impact of COVID-19 on university student´s academic performance," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    9. Ilie, S. & Maragkou, K., 2024. "University admissions during a pandemic," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2458, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    10. Alessandro Belmonte & Harry Pickard, 2024. "Safe at Last? Late Effects of a Mass Immunization Campaign on Households' Economic Insecurity," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(2), pages 466-497, June.
    11. repec:osf:socarx:ve4z7_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Svaleryd, Helena & Vlachos, Jonas, 2022. "COVID-19 and School Closures," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1008, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Yekaterina Chzhen & Jennifer Symonds & Dympna Devine & Júlia Mikolai & Susan Harkness & Seaneen Sloan & Gabriela Martinez Sainz, 2022. "Learning in a Pandemic: Primary School children’s Emotional Engagement with Remote Schooling during the spring 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown in Ireland," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1517-1538, August.
    14. Harbatkin, Erica & Strunk, Katharine O. & McIlwain, Aliyah, 2023. "School turnaround in a pandemic: An examination of the outsized implications of COVID-19 on low-performing turnaround schools, districts, and their communities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    15. Borgonovi, Francesca & Ferrara, Alessandro, 2022. "A longitudinal perspective on the effects of Covid-19 on students' resilience. The Effect of the pandemic on the reading and mathematics achievement of 8th and 5th graders in Italy," SocArXiv 94erb_v1, Center for Open Science.
    16. Elisa Failache, 2023. "Taking advantage of COVID-19? Online learning, descentralization and tertiary education," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 23-09, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    17. Ayllón, Sara, 2022. "Online teaching and gender bias," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    18. Sun, Yue & Tang, Can & Zhao, Zhong, 2024. "Does online education magnify educational inequalities? Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Hupkau, Claudia & Ruiz-Valenzuela, Jenifer & Isphording, Ingo E. & Machin, Stephen, 2023. "Labour Market Shocks and Parental Investments during the Covid-19 Pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    20. David R. Agrawal & Aline Bütikofer, 2022. "Public finance in the era of the COVID-19 crisis," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1349-1372, December.
    21. Prashant Poddar & Valentina Rotondi & Ridhi Kashyap, 2025. "Access to technology and foundational math proficiency among students: empirical evidence from India," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iab:iabjlr:v:58:i::p:a018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: IAB, Geschäftsbereich Informationsmanagement und Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iabbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.