Abstract
We investigate whether the choice for a higher education program with a substantial workplace learning component entails an early-career trade-off between on the one hand higher employment chances and better initial matches (when opting for a program with workplace learning) and on the other hand a lower risk of bad match persistence (when opting for a program without workplace learning). To this end, we rely on longitudinal data of Belgian graduates that track their careers up until the age of 29. We model the program choice, the transition to a good match and the preceding transition to a bad match simultaneously. To account for non-random selection into programs and into bad matches, the Timing of Events method is combined with an exclusion restriction. After accounting for observed and unobserved heterogeneity, we do not find evidence for a trade-off. This result contributes to the debate about the efficiency of vocationalizing tertiary education programs through the implementation of workplace learning.
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Notes
Given this alternative focus, there are also several other differences with the analysis in Baert et al. (2013) (cf. infra). For instance, given that the focus is less on job search strategies and more on the labor market effects of educational choices, we investigate joblessness spells instead of unemployment spells and estimate a more extended model.
In Belgium, education is a regional duty.
In the pre-Bologna era, these qualifications were labeled as “graduate degree” in the case of a short-term degree and “licentiate degree” in the case of a long-term degree. In the long-term tracks, individuals were also awarded a so-called “candidate degree” after 2 years. However, this degree was not intended to be a terminus and almost all students proceeded thereafter with at least two more years of education to achieve their licentiate degree.
In some cases, there may also be heterogeneity across students within programs when work placement is only elective, although this was less usual in the pre-Bologna era and usually resulted in a short period of work placement only (e.g., 1 month; see below).
Although the exact modalities largely differ across programs and institutions, there are also a number of other differences with apprenticeships. Work placements are usually, but not always, concentrated in the last years of the program. Depending on the overall time spent in work placement, they may or may not be restricted to employment at one organization. The days of work placement may be scheduled either during a compact period or may alternate with days of classroom training. Like in the case of apprenticeships, the guidance of the student is usually shared by a mentor at work and a mentor at college or university. While the educational institution is responsible for the determination of the evaluation criteria and the final grading (Department of Education and Training Flanders 2012), they usually rely (at least partly) on a report written by the trainee and on the input and evaluation of the mentor at work.
The data were collected on the basis of face-to-face computer-aided structured interviews at the home place of the interviewees. The interviewers were trained and got detailed survey instructions regarding how each of the questions should be interpreted.
Analyses based on the 1976 cohort revealed some selectivity in terms of participation in the follow-up survey (Laurijssen 2005). In particular, participation was lower for the lower and medium educated than for the higher educated. However, among the higher educated, participation was similar for individuals with a short and long program degree. Among those who finalized their higher education at or before the age 23, we also did not find a statistically significant difference in attrition between those with and those a without workplace learning program degree.
Another 29 individuals also had a higher education degree without having yet left education at the time of the last interview.
While we cannot exclude that our measure of programs with workplace learning also includes a number of students having participated in work placement as an elective course or in a voluntary internship during their education, we assess this risk to be low. First of all, Flanders has no tradition of combining higher education with participation in voluntary internships and study-related work experiences. This was even more so the case 15 years ago (see, e.g., Allen 2011). Second, the maximum duration for work placements as electives and voluntary internships are regulated in Flanders to be 1 month and 60 days, respectively. Hence, our criterion of 3 months of work placement should exclude most of the individuals having only participated in one of these alternative types of work placements and internships.
The high proportion of workplace learning programs in social sciences is attributed to the large numbers of individuals with a degree in social work or a degree in psychology.
Similar results are also found relying on the same data as in this study (e.g., Verhaest and Omey 2009).
While information on the home address ideally corresponds to the situation at the start of graduation (mostly age 18–20), we only have information on the official address at age 23. For several reasons, the number of individuals with a (substantial) change in the geographical location of their official address is likely to be small. At age 23, individuals in our sample only recently graduated or were still at college or university. Further, while many students rent a room near college or university, almost all students in Flanders turn home during the weekend. Parents also get child benefits for children officially residing at their address up to 12 months after graduation (conditional on not having a job with a standard labor contract). Hence, it is usual in Belgium to keep the official address unchanged up until a significant period after graduation. Also overall geographical mobility is considered to be low in Flanders (Estevão 2002).
\(\hbox {Exp}(-0.240)-1=-0.213\)
The estimated effect for \(t = [3,4]\) is equal to −0.240 \(+\) 0.593 \(=\) 0.353 and has a \(\chi ^{2}\) value of 4.34; the estimated effect for \(t = [5,9]\) is equal to −0.240 \(+\) 0.505 \(=\) 0.265 and has a \(\chi ^{2}\) value of 1.94.
\(\hbox {Exp}(0.353)-1=0.423\).
The effects on the indirect transition rates are equal to the sum of the baseline effect \((\alpha _{g})\), the interaction effect between the treatment effect and the program dummy \((\delta _{3})\) and, eventually, the interaction between the baseline hazard and the program dummy \((\hbox {ln}\lambda _{g,y }(t))\). Test results on the statistical significance of these effects are available upon requests.
These results are not reported, but available upon request.
The estimated effect for \(t = [3,4]\) is equal to \(-0.160+0.416+0.332=0.588\) and has a \(\chi ^{2}\) value of 5.86; the estimated effect for \(t = [5,9]\) is equal to \(-0.160+0.429+0.332=0.601\) and has a \(\chi ^{2}\) value of 5.58.
To test whether the trade-off effect shows up for more extreme types of vocationally oriented programs, we also estimated our model relying on at least 6 months of work placement as criterion to distinguish between the two types of programs. However, the model did not converge when using this criterion.
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We thank two anonymous reviewers of this journal, Sofie Cabus, Martin Humburg, and the participants of the 2013 workshop on transitions in youth (Berlin), the 2014 EALE conference (Ljubljana) and the 2015 LEER workshop (Leuven) for their useful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper. Data collection in the framework of the SONAR research program was financed by the Flemish Government.
Appendices
Appendix A
See Table 6.
Appendix B
See Table 7.
Appendix C
See Table 8.
Appendix D
See Table 9.
Appendix E
See Table 10.
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Verhaest, D., Baert, S. The effects of workplace learning in higher education on employment and match quality: is there an early-career trade-off?. Empir Econ 55, 1229–1270 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-017-1308-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-017-1308-4