Hochschulstudium: nicht ausgeschöpfte Potentiale trotz "Akademisierungswahn"

In den vergangenen Jahren ist die Zahl der Studienanfängerinnen und -anfänger an deutschen Hochschulen deutlich gestiegen. Ihren bisherigen Rekordwert erreichte sie im Studienjahr 2011: Damals schrieben sich 518 700 Studienanfängerinnen und -anfänger erstmals an einer deutschen Hochschule ein. Die Studienanfängerquote erreichte 56 Prozent. Das heißt, jeder 2. Schulabgänger nimmt im Laufe seines Lebens ein Studium auf. Während die Einen von einem Akademisierungswahn sprechen, heben die Anderen hervor, dass Bildung der beste Prädiktor für ein sicheres Einkommen auf der individuellen Ebene und für Wettbewerbsfähigkeit auf der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Ebene ist. Die Potentiale sind noch längst nicht ausgeschöpft: Selbst mit der hohen Studierquote in Deutschland sind Kinder aus Nichtakademiker-Familien an deutschen Universitäten nach wie vor stark unterrepräsentiert

Do Tuition Fees Affect the Mobility of University Applicants? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Several German states recently introduced tuition fees for university education. We investigate whether these tuition fees influence the mobility of university applicants. Based on administrative data of applicants for medical schools in Germany, we estimate the effect of tuition fees on the probability of applying for a university in the home state. We find a small but significant reaction: The probability of applying for a university in the home state falls by 2 percentage points (baseline: 69%) for high-school graduates who come from a state with tuition fees. Moreover, we find that students with lower high-school grades react more strongly to tuition fees. This might have important effects on the composition of students across states.mobility of high-school graduates, tuition fees, natural experiment

Do Tuition Fees Affect the Mobility of University Applicants?: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Several German states recently introduced tuition fees for university education. We investigate whether these tuition fees influence the mobility of university applicants. Based on administrative data of applicants for medical schools in Germany, we estimate the effect of tuition fees on the probability of applying for a university in the home state. We find a small but significant reaction: The probability of applying for a university in the home state falls by 2 percentage points (baseline: 69%) for high-school graduates who come from a state with tuition fees. Moreover, we find that students with lower high-school grades react more strongly to tuition fees. This might have important effects on the composition of students across states.mobility of high-school graduates, tuition fees, natural experiment

The Impact of Family Friendly Workplaces on Satisfaction and Work

This paper provides novel evidence on the effect of family-friendly firm policies on satisfaction and working time of parents. The focus of this study is on two specific firm policies: Childcare support and flexible working schedules. We exploit the fact that since the mid 2000s an increasing share of employers react to their employees' needs by offering a family-friendly work environment. These changes over time allow us to identify causal effects of the two family-friendly policies. Identification is based on a difference-in-differences strategy in a panel dataset on families with young children in Germany (FiD). The model is combined with matching to decrease potential bias arising from observable factors correlated with the offer of family-friendly policies and the change in the considered outcomes. We find that for mothers, childcare support strongly increases satisfaction related to childcare and additionally raises life and job satisfaction. Particularly middle and lower educated mothers increase their working time when childcare support is offered. The effects are mainly driven by immediate use of childcare support. Flexible working schedules only affect mothers' job satisfaction, but do not seem to change family related satisfaction and working time. Fathers show nearly no reactions to either childcare support or flexible working schedules. Childcare support seems to be a truly family-friendly practice and valued by mothers, while this is not so clear for flexible working schedules

Personality traits affect young people's intention to study

Although in recent years the number of new students has been growing constantly, socio-economic differences remain an issue in the transition from school to college: those eligible for higher education whose parents do not have a college degree are less likely to take up higher education than their peers from academic parental homes. This means that they may not be fully utilizing their educational potential. A study by DIW Berlin examines how personality traits for both groups play a role in creating the intention to go to college. The present study is based on data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study and shows that personality traits do indeed affect the intention to study of adolescents aged 17. The probability of taking up tertiary education increases among students taking their Abitur (school-leaving certificate that serves as a qualification for German university entrance) when they are more open to new experiences or are less anxious and insecure. This applies to young people with the same academic performance and in particular to students from non-academic parental homes

Helping with the kids? How family-friendly workplaces affect parental well-being and behavior

Despite political efforts, balancing work and family life is still challenging. This paper provides novel evidence on the effect of firm level interventions that seek to reduce the work-life conflict. The focus is on how a specific workplace policy, namely childcare support, affects the well-being, working time, and caring behavior of mothers with young children. We exploit the fact that since the mid 2000s an increasing number of employers have become proactive and implemented more family-friendly workplaces. These changes over time allow us to identify causal effects of childcare support using a difference-in-differences approach combined with matching. Based on a large panel dataset on families with children in Germany (FiD), we find evidence pointing to welfare enhancing effects of childcare support, as it strongly increases both childcare satisfaction and job satisfaction. In particular mothers who worked limited hours before the introduction, possibly due to constraints, increase their working time and use formal care more intensively. Satisfaction levels are also more strongly affected if mothers are career-orientated. In comparison, flexible work schedules, another family-friendly policy, only affect job satisfaction. Paternal well-being and behavior is not affected by the workplace policy

The Treatment Effect of Attending a High-Quality School and the Influence of Unobservables

This paper studies the effect of attending a high-quality secondary school on subsequent educational outcomes. The analysis is based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study in which we observe children when they make their secondary school choice (between ages 10-12) and later when they self-report on their intentions with regard to their further educational path (between ages 16-17). To identify the treatment effect, we use a regression-control framework as well as an instrumental variable approach (based on local supply of schools). In a second step, we carefully examine the influence of unobservable characteristics, using the new technique proposed by Altonji, Elder, and Taber (2005b). Our findings suggest that unobservable characteristics are indeed crucial to the validity of the research design. While we find large positive and significant effects of attending a high-quality school, we cannot rule out that the estimates are not in fact driven by selection on unobservables

Familienfreundlichkeit in Unternehmen: Status Quo in Deutschland und Forschungsstand

Die Erwerbstätigkeit von Müttern hat in Deutschland sowie in den meisten industrialisierten Ländern in den vergangenen Jahren stetig zugenommen. In Deutschland ist die Erwerbstätigkeit von Frauen mit Kindern von 59 Prozent im Jahr 2000 auf rund 66 Prozent im Jahr 2012 angestiegen (BMFSFJ 2014). Der Großteil der erwerbstätigen Mütter geht jedoch nach wie vor einer Teilzeitbeschäftigung nach. Dies kann ein Hinweis darauf sein, dass die Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie nicht ausreichend gewährleistet ist. Tatsächlich berichten viele Eltern, dass sich Familie und Beruf in Deutschland nur schwer vereinbaren lassen (z.B. Kotowska et al. 2010, Müller et al. 2013). Auch für die USA lässt sich zeigen, dass Frauen, die Karriere und Familie gleichzeitig unter einen Hut bringen möchten, eine geringere Lebenszufriedenheit aufweisen, als Frauen, welche nur eines der beiden Ziele verfolgen (Bertrand 2013). In Deutschland, wie auch in anderen Industrieländern, reagieren immer mehr Unternehmen auf die Bedürfnisse ihrer Arbeitnehmer und versuchen mithilfe von familienfreundlichen Maßnahmen qualifizierte Fachkräfte zu gewinnen bzw. an ihr Unternehmen zu binden (z.B. Seils & Kaschowitz 2015). Zu der Frage, welche Maßnahmen Unternehmen in Deutschland ergreifen und inwiefern familienfreundliche Maßnahmen in Betrieben die elterlichen Arbeitsentscheidungen und die persönliche Zufriedenheit beeinflussen, gibt es für Deutschland bisher kaum repräsentative Forschungsergebnisse. Vor allem fehlt es an empirisch fundierten Analysen, welche auf einen Kausalzusammenhang zwischen familienfreundlichen Arbeitsplätzen einerseits und Zufriedenheit oder Arbeitsverhalten der Arbeitnehmer andererseits schließen lassen