The Contribution of Short-Cycle Programs to Student Outcomes: Evidence from Colombia

69 Pages Posted: 16 Feb 2023

See all articles by Lelys Dinarte

Lelys Dinarte

World Bank

Maria Marta Ferreyra

World Bank

Tatiana Melguizo

University of Southern California

Angelica Sanchez

Georgetown University

Date Written: 2023

Abstract

Short-cycle higher education programs (SCPs), lasting two or three years, capture about a quarter of higher education enrollment in the world and can play a key role enhancing workforce skills. In this paper, we estimate the program-level contribution of SCPs to student academic and labor market outcomes, and study how and why these contributions vary across programs. We exploit unique administrative data from Colombia on the universe of students, institutions, and programs to control for a rich set of student, peer, and local choice set characteristics. We find that program-level contributions account for about 60-70 percent of the variation in student-level graduation and labor market outcomes. Our estimates show that programs vary greatly in their contributions, across and especially within fields of study. Moreover, the estimated contributions are strongly correlated with program outcomes but not with other commonly used quality measures. Programs contribute more to formal employment and wages when they are longer, have been provided for a longer time, are taught by more specialized institutions, and are offered in larger cities.

Keywords: short-cycle programs, value added, quality, higher education

JEL Classification: I220, I230, I260, J240

Suggested Citation

Dinarte, Lelys and Ferreyra, Maria Marta and Melguizo, Tatiana and Sanchez, Angelica, The Contribution of Short-Cycle Programs to Student Outcomes: Evidence from Colombia (2023). CESifo Working Paper No. 10262, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4357554 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4357554

Lelys Dinarte (Contact Author)

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Maria Marta Ferreyra

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Tatiana Melguizo

University of Southern California ( email )

2250 Alcazar Street
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

Angelica Sanchez

Georgetown University

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