The impact of an additional year in high school on academic performance at university: Evidence from a policy experiment in Ghana
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Development Policy Review
Abstract
Motivation: While education plays a fundamental role in economic
development, the design of an appropriate educational structure, including duration of study at various levels, remains an issue of major
policy debate in many low-income countries. In Ghana, the issue of the
length of high school education is an issue of ongoing policy debate.
Purpose: This study estimates the effects of an additional year in senior high school (SHS) on academic performance at university level.
Methods and approach: Using data from the two largest public universities in Ghana, the article exploits a unique natural experiential variation in the years of secondary education created by policy
changes in pre-university education in Ghana to estimate the impact
of an additional year in SHS on a number of academic outcomes at
university level.
Findings: We find that an additional year of SHS education has no
impact on academic performance. We did not find any statistical
significant difference in the likelihood of completing undergraduate
studies in four years, or of graduating with a first-class degree, or the
final grade point average (GPA) of students who attended SHS for
four years versus their counterparts, who attended SHS for only three
years. However, our descriptive analyses show that an additional year
in SHS improves chances of students from less-endowed SHS gaining admission to university, especially to health sciences programmes.
Policy implications: The nuanced nature of the results suggests the
need to further interrogate the policy on SHS duration in Ghana. This
may help ensure that the implementation of the policy does not end
up making some segment of the student population worse off
Description
Research Article
Keywords
academic performance, public universities, Ghana