Does class size matter in postgraduate education?. (27th October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gaggero, Alessio; Haile, Getinet
• Is Part Of: Manchester school. Volume 88:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 489
• Page End: 505
• Publication Date: 2019-10-27
• Subjects: class size -- grades -- higher education -- RDD; Economics -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Economics -- Sociological aspects -- Periodicals; 330.05
• DOI: 10.1111/manc.12305
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1463-6786

Abstract

Abstract: 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.