Estimating the Contribution of Short-Cycle Programs to Student Outcomes in Colombia

Maria Marta Ferreyra, Andrea Franco Hernandez, Tatiana Melguizo and Angelica Maria Sanchez Diaz

No 9424, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Short-cycle higher education programs last between one and three years and capture approximately20 percent of the world’s higher education enrollment. Although they hold great promise for the skilling,up-skilling, and re-skilling of the workforce in the current world of work, little is known about the contribution theymake to students’ outcomes, above and beyond student or peer characteristics. This paper estimates the contribution ofall short-cycle higher education programs in Colombia. It estimates value-added contributions by program, using uniqueadministrative data on student outcomes and background, as well as program- and institution- level data. For a givenoutcome, the programs vary greatly in their raw outcomes and in their contribution to student outcomes. Althoughprogram-level contributions vary across fields, they varyeven more within fields. Regression analysis shows that formal employment and wage contributions are greater forprograms that are longer, delivered in a traditional mode, or taught in large cities, selective institutions, orinstitutions specialized in the field. The paper ends with a word of caution about the use of average program outcomes orcontributions to build program rankings, as these vary greatly depending on the metric used.

Keywords: Educational Sciences; Employment and Unemployment; Tertiary Education; Rural Labor Markets; Labor Markets; Health Care Services Industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-10-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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