Research seminar "The Consequences of the Unified State Exam"

Speakers - Anna Yurko (ICEF HSE)

Laboratory for Labour Market Studies and Centre for Labour Market Studies held the Research Seminar on December 8, 2015.

Theme: Estimating effects of 2007 family policy changes on probability of second and subsequent births in Russia.

Speaker: Anna Yurko, Associate Professor at HSE International College of Economics and Finance.

Abstract: A 2009 reform changed the university admissions process in all higher education institutions in Russia. While prior to the reform admission decisions were based on idiosyncratic entrance examinations that were developed, conducted and graded by institutions themselves, the reform required colleges and universities to base their admissions decisions almost exclusively on the results of the Unified State Exams (USE). Students in the last year of high school take these exams locally and simultaneously with their peers all over the country. The USE are developed, administered and graded by state agencies affiliated with the Ministry of Education and Science. One of the main goals of the reform was to make education in better and historically more centrally located universities accessible to students from the distant regions of Russia. We evaluate the success of the reform in achieving this goal. Specifically, we study whether the reform was able to substantially increase the mobility of Russian students after high school graduation. We also consider several other consequences of the USE such as parental expenditures on education.

Research was conducted with Fabian Slonimczyk and Marco Francesconi.

Presentation

Discussant: Ilya Prakhov, Assistant Professor at HSE Department of Applied Economics.