University Admission in Russia: Do the Wealthier Benefit from Standardized Exams?
International Journal of Educational Development. 2019. No. 65. P. 98-105, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.08.007
Posted: 3 Jul 2019 Last revised: 28 Aug 2019
There are 2 versions of this paper
University Admission In Russia: Do the Wealthier Benefit from Standardized Exams?
Date Written: April 1, 2019
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of family income on the results of the newly introduced Unified State Examination (USE) in Russia. We argue that entrants from wealthy households have an advantage in terms of access to higher education, since income positively affects USE scores through a higher level of investment in pre-entry coaching. We have found positive and significant relationships between the level of income and USE results for high school graduates, given equal achievement before coaching. We demonstrate that in general, investment in pre-entry coaching has positive returns, but the most significant type of investment is pre-entry courses. However, such strategy improves USE results only for students from the most affluent households.
Keywords: Student achievement, Standardized entry exams, Equity in higher education, University choice
JEL Classification: I21, I24, I28
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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