Chapter in "Mass Higher Education and the Changing Labour Market for Graduates Between Employability and Employment"
Sergey Roshchin, Ksenia Rozhkova, Victor Rudakov, and Pavel Travkin co-authored chapter "The massification of higher education and labour market outcomes of university graduates in Russia" in the book "Mass Higher Education and the Changing Labour Market for Graduates Between Employability and Employment".
This chapter explores the effect of the massification of higher education in Russia on the early-career labour market outcomes of recent university graduates. Using a unique administrative dataset, it estimates the return to fields of study and various signals of individual productivity, including university selectivity, academic performance and experience of combining study and work. Although obtaining higher education is still associated with significant labour market returns, the massification of higher education has led to dramatic educational inequality in Russia. Significant labour market disparities arise due to differences in the quality of higher education. All productivity signals imply high labour market returns, especially university selectivity and combining study and work. Academic performance is more relevant for those graduating from lower-quality programmes. Moreover, academic performance and university selectivity seem to be more valued among high earners. The chapter concludes with a discussion of possible policy measures in response to the current educational inequality.
Chapter is available here