Equality of Opportunity in Access to Higher Education

机会平等被许多人视为一项基本人权。当每个人都能充分发挥他们的潜力，没有人受到自己出生的环境的限制时，它就实现了。然而，今天，世界各地数以百万计的青年面临着持续存在的机会差距。这既是一个社会问题，也是一个经济问题，因为当我们的许多青年无法获得安全的环境、高质量的教育和就业机会时，经济潜力就会丧失。特别是，它利用智利这一收入不平等程度较高的国家的创新包容性政策数据，寻找在早期，即在大学入学和进入劳动力市场之前缩小这些机会差距的方法。这项研究的目的不仅是为智利的教育政策提供科学的评估，而且也是为了吸取对任何国家都有用的实际公共政策教训。为了实现这一点，该项目将异常详细的数据与结构建模相结合。大部分数据已经或将由智利教育部在智利收集。此外，候选人还将利用与国内研究用户建立的关系，以最低成本进行一次小型数据收集。结构建模是对政策发挥作用的机制的分析。它使我们能够从具体情况推断出适用于许多国家的一般性结论。该项目涉及三个相关的研究问题。首先，它评估了一项名为PACE(Programa De Acceso Eectivo Y Apanamiento A La Education Acion Superior)的平权行动方案，该方案保证智利贫困高中最优秀的学生能够进入大学。这项研究将使用随机对照试验，利用计划推出的方案，科学地评估方案的有效性，并查明包容性政策成功的关键因素。其次，它确定了在有能力的高中和没有将能力相似的学生分流到同一班级的高中之间，PACE的试点方案--预言式方案--的有效性是否存在差异。通过这样做，这项研究扩大了我们对跟踪和同伴在成就产生中的作用的理解。例如，调查结果将决定，当学生与相似的同龄人在教室里时，他们是否会更激烈地竞争大学录取。第三，评价高等教育对弱势青年的影响。为了做到这一点，它使用大学录取截止规则来应用一种名为回归间断的政策评估技术。高等教育对处于不利地位的青年的学业和劳动力市场结果的好处没有得到很好的理解，因为很少有贫困学生进入大学就读。由于包容性政策的目标正是这些学生，因此评估他们的利益对政策制定者和研究人员至关重要。这个项目的目标是最大化投资于年轻人生活的回报。这不仅降低了不平等带来的巨大人力成本，还增加了总收益和经济增长。由于候选人在智利学术界和公共部门(包括智利教育部)的人脉关系，研究结果可以对智利的教育政策论述产生直接和直接的影响。多年来，智利政府一直表现出愿意实施有充分证据基础的改革。因此，智利可能有数十万贫困儿童在短期内受到直接影响。然后，其他国家可以效仿智利的做法，扩大对世界各地数百万贫困和有才华的儿童的潜在影响。

Equality of opportunity is considered by many a basic human right. It is achieved when everybody can reach their full potential, and nobody is limited by the circumstances of their own birth. However, today millions of youths around the world face persistent gaps in opportunity. This is both a social and an economic issue, because economic potential is lost when many of our youth do not have access to safe environments, high quality education and employment opportunities.This project focuses on ways to eradicate disparities in education and their consequences for labour market opportunities. In particular, it uses data from innovative inclusion policies in Chile, a country characterized by high income inequality, to find ways to close these opportunity gaps early on, i.e., before university enrolment and labour market entry. The goal of this research is not only to provide a scientific evaluation of educational policies in Chile, but also to draw practical public policy lessons that can be useful to any country. To achieve this, the project combines exceptionally detailed data with structural modelling. Most of the data have already been or will be collected by the Chilean Ministry of Education in Chile. They will be complemented with a small data collection carried out by the candidate at a minimal cost, leveraging on established relationships with research users in-country. Structural modelling is the analysis of the mechanisms through which policies work. It is what allows us to extrapolate, from specific contexts, general conclusions that are applicable to many countries. The project addresses three related research questions. First, it evaluates an affirmative action programme called PACE (Programa de Acceso Efectivo y Acompanamiento a la Educacion Superior), which guarantees admission to university to the best students in disadvantaged high schools in Chile. The study will use a Randomized Control Trial that exploits the planned programme roll-out to scientifically evaluate programme effectiveness and to identify the key ingredients for inclusion policy success. Second, it determines if differences exist in the effectiveness of the pilot programme for PACE, the Propedeutico programme, between high schools that do and that do not stream students of similar ability into the same classes. In doing so, the study extends our understanding of the role of tracking and peers in the production of achievement. For example, findings will determine if students compete more fiercely for university admission when they are in classrooms with similar peers. Third, it evaluates the impact of higher education on disadvantaged youth. To do so, it uses cut-off rules for university admission to apply a policy evaluation technique known as regression discontinuity. The benefits of higher education on the academic and labour market outcomes of disadvantaged youths are not well understood because very few poor students are observed enrolling in university. Because these are the very students that inclusion policies target, evaluating the benefits for them is of paramount importance for policy makers and researchers. This project's goal is to maximise the returns of investing in the lives of young people. This not only reduces the vast human cost of inequality, but it also increases aggregate earnings and economic growth. Due to the candidate's network in academia and in the public sector in Chile (including in the Chilean Ministry of Education), the results of the study can have a direct and immediate impact on the educational policy discourse in Chile. Over the years, the Chilean Governments have shown willingness to enact reforms that have a strong evidence-base. Therefore, potentially hundreds of thousands of poor children in Chile can be directly affected in the short term. Other countries could then follow the Chilean example, amplifying the potential impact to millions of underprivileged and talented children around the world.