Does class size matter in postgraduate education?

Gaggero, Alessio; Haile, Getinet

Abstract

© 2019 The University of Manchester and John Wiley & Sons Ltd The paper examines the impact of class size on postgraduate (PG) grades using administrative data from one of the largest Schools of a Russell Group University in the UK. As well as estimating fixed effects models on the population of PG candidates in the School, we exploit a policy change aimed at reducing class size to implement a regression discontinuity design. We find that class size does impact overall grades adversely; and the policy aimed at reducing class size impacts grades favourably. Our findings are robust to alternative specifications as well as being supported by the validity tests we conducted.

Citation

Gaggero, A., & Haile, G. (2020). Does class size matter in postgraduate education?. Manchester School, 88(3), 489-505. https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12305

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 10, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Oct 27, 2019
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Deposit Date: Nov 5, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 28, 2021
• Journal: Manchester School
• Print ISSN: 1463-6786
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9957
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 88
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 489-505
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12305
• Keywords: higher education, class size, grades, RDD
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3059601
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/manc.12305
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gaggero, A, Haile, G. Does class size matter in postgraduate education? The Manchester School. 2019; 00: 1– 17, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12305. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.