The Impact of the Bologna Process on Graduation: New Evidence from Italy

Abstract

Between 2001 and 2005, higher education in Italy went through a considerable process of reform according to the Bologna Process. This paper evaluates the effects of this process on the academic performance of students. We estimate the difference in gradua-tion probability between students who switched from pre-reform university courses to post-reform courses and students who carried on their pre-reform academic career. To this end, we considered a sample of 25,866 undergraduate students enrolled 1 year before the imple-mentation of this policy, a number that was reduced by matching techniques to achieve a balanced sample of 1020 units, thereby allowing a causal interpretation of results. Esti-mates of logistic models on the balanced sample suggest that switching to the post-reform university system increases the probability of completion for younger students. Further-more, higher socio-economic backgrounds of students are positively related to graduation probability, suggesting that the social inequalities are still noticeable when the completion rates of tertiary education are considered.

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“…At the students' future careers in the labor market is promising, the treatment group's average final overall grade is significantly higher. In Italy, a study by Chies (2016) showed that younger students who chose the Bologna reform outperformed their peers in terms completion and employment opportunity. The findings indicated that the reform's effectiveness in increasing efficiency, competency and completion was highly confirmed among students.…”

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“…Entre ellos, lo señalado por Blanden y Machin (2004) yBratti et al (2008) cuando indican que la posibilidad de graduarse de la educación superior aumenta considerablemente al contar con ingresos más altos. Desde un ángulo distinto, nuestros hallazgos también encuentran relación con los estudios de Zarifa (2012) yZarifa et al (2018) cuando muestra que los titulados de entornos socioeconómicos más bajos experimentan dificultades para completar sus estudios a tiempo, o con los estudiosChies et al (2019) y Triventi et al (2017 que, al analizar la implementación del proceso de Bolonia en Europa, establecen un aumento de las desigualdades de clase.…”