Do Reforms Aimed at Reducing Time to Graduation Work? Evidence from the Italian Higher Education System

Davide Malacrino (), Samuel Nocito () and Raffaele Saggio ()
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Davide Malacrino: International Monetary Fund
Samuel Nocito: Sapienza University of Rome
Raffaele Saggio: University of British Columbia

No 18530, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of a reform aimed at expediting graduation times in Italian universities by reducing the number of exams students must pass in order to graduate. Using event-study estimates that leverage the reform's staggered implementation, we find that this policy led to an increase in on-time graduation rates but also resulted in a decreased probability of employment one-year post-graduation. However, this negative effect reverses into a positive one in the medium run. We show that these patterns are explained by students using the time gained from earlier graduation to pursue additional educational qualifications.

Keywords: higher education; policy evaluation; time to graduation; labor outcomes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 I26 I28 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lma
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