World Education Finance and Higher Education Access: Econometric Analyses of International Indicators and the Implications for China.

Abstract

This dissertation, in the format of three interrelated manuscripts, uses panel data models to analyze the international indicators and examines the statistical relationship between education finance policies and higher education access among OECD nations (Chapter II) and among 98 countries (Chapter III) respectively. Then the dissertation uses the analytical framework and empirical findings from Chapters II and III to reframe the discourse of education finance policy and access for China’s higher education (Chapter IV).

Chapter II concludes that scholarships/grants as a percentage of public tertiary expenditure and student loans as percentages of public tertiary expenditure do not exert statistically significant effect on college access among OECD nations. This chapter also finds that the growth of GDP per capita, and public spending on education as a percentage of GDP have a statistically significant, positive impact on college enrollment.

Chapter III concludes that public spending on education as a percentage of GDP, public expenditure per secondary student as a percentage of GDP per capita, and GDP per capita have no statistically significant main effects on tertiary enrollment ratios among the 98 nations. However, the study finds that the growth of GDP per capita and public spending on education as a percentage of GDP have a greater impact on access for developed countries than for less developed countries.

Both Chapters II and III conclude that public expenditure per tertiary student as percentage of GDP per capita, an indicator examined in both chapters, bears a statistically significant but negative association with tertiary enrollment. This finding implies that for a fixed total budget on higher education and a rising total enrollment, various nations appear to have reduced spending on each student and drawn on more private resources to increase higher education access.

Chapter IV finds that, although China’s dramatic economic growth has strongly driven higher education access, the increasing economic disparities have intensified unequal access between rural and urban students and between eastern and western regions. The role of education finance policies in promoting equal access to higher education is too limited to mitigate the negative influence of income disparities in China.