Admission conditions and graduates’ employability

Abstract

In a context of increasing competition for students, admission conditions have been used as an instrument in a strategy of differentiation. Such a strategy is guided by short-run concerns, that is, the immediate need to attract more students. This article takes a longer term view, by examining graduates' employability. The authors find that tougher admission conditions (namely, a mandatory mathematics examination) appear to be linked with lower unemployment propensity. Previous studies, however, have found that those programmes face lower demand when compared to other studies. These results suggest that students' choices may be based on insufficient information on returns to higher education investment. That information failure indicates that a government intervention may be due.