Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2010, 46(1): 43-72 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2010.46.1.02

Alternative Models of Entrance Exams and Access to Tertiary Education: A Simulation Study

Tomáš Konečný, Josef Basl, Jan Mysliveček

1 CERGE-EI, Praha

2 Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Praha 3 CERGE-EI, Praha

The study evaluates the potential impact of alternative models of university entrance exams - a model based on field-specific knowledge and a model relying on general aptitude tests - in the context of the Czech education system since 1998, a system that can be described as highly stratified and suffering from a notable excess of demand for higher education over supply. Using the dataset Sonda Maturant 1998, the authors show that entrance exams based on general aptitude tests may outperform the field-specific knowledge model in terms of providing access to talented students from a lower socioeconomic background. The simulations show that under the general aptitude regime the relative chances of an applicant with a university-educated father are only one-quarter higher than the relative chances of a student with a less educated father, compared to more than a one-third difference in the case of the regime emphasising field-specific knowledge. For mother's education, the respective odds ratios differ by the even larger margin of 28 percentage points.

Keywords: higher education, entrance exams, educational equity, Czech Republic.

Published: February 1, 2010Show citation