Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/110106 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8869
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Do applicants to higher education rely on expert judgement about the quality of the course when applying? Using application data across UK universities over a period of 8 years, we investigate how league tables affect prospective students' application decisions. We use subject specific ranking rather than the commonly used institution level ranking. We find that a one standard deviation change in the subject-level ranking score of an institution is associated with on average a 4.3% increase in application numbers per faculty. This effect is particularly pronounced among faculties with the best scores, and overseas applicants. Limits to the number of applications have increased the preponderance of league tables.
Subjects: 
higher education applications
league tables
JEL: 
I23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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