IMPACT OF EDUCATIONAL POLICIES AND STRUCTURES ON STUDENTS’ FUTURE OUTCOMES

This thesis examines two key aspects of higher education policies and their impact on students’ outcomes. The first chapter investigates the labor market implications of grade inflation induced by Pass/Fail grading reforms at a top-ranking university in Singapore. By employing a Difference-in-Regression Discontinuity method, the study analyzes the effects of the policy reform on labor market return to students graduating with the highest honors class. Findings reveal that grade inflation had minimal overall impact on labor market outcomes. The second chapter explores the effects of peer gender composition on students’ academic performance, leveraging near-random variation in tutorial group gender ratios created by a tutorial balloting system. Results show positive impacts of a higher proportion of female peers on both genders, with significant heterogeneity by student characteristics and academic fields. Together, these findings emphasize the nuanced consequences of educational policies and underscore the importance of tailoring reforms to context-specific dynamics.

Author dc:creator

• ZHANG YUXUAN

• education
• peer
• gender
• labor market
• grade inflation
• gradeless learning

Licence

• https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/bitstreams/0bef5fe5-a6d8-4970-83a9-8d2fb4338190/download