The Social Composition of Medical Students at the Erzsébet University Between 1930 and 1945

The purpose of the study. To examine the social composition of medical students of the Erzsébet University of Pécs (ETE) between 1930 and 1945 based on statistics about religion, place of birth and father/guardian occupation. To present the external processes affecting the admission of students based on the minutes of the university governing body. To present some typical individual careers of students of the examined period. Applied methods. Statistical analysis of student enrolment and diploma books. Analysis of major processes using the minutes of the medical faculty and university council meetings and literature. Presenting and categorising careers using all available archival and library data. Outcomes. Compared to the previous decade and a half, the number of medical students at ETE decreased for demographic and political reasons. The religious composition of the students changed due to measures restricting Jewish students’ university admission, and disenfranchising them. The careers examined also demonstrate how affected students tried to circumvent these measures.

The Paradox of State-Funded Higher Education: Does the Winner Still Take It All?

Contrary to the overall tendency to increase student participation in the financing of higher education, Estonia abolished student tuition fees in 2013. We study the effects of this reform on the students’ access to and progress in higher education, concentrating mostly on the changes in probabilities of rural and remote students being admitted (extensive margin) and graduating within a nominal time (intensive margin). We distinguish between four different outcomes: admission in general, admission to vocational education, admission to high-rank curricula, and graduation within nominal time. We confirm the tendency that a high socioeconomic status increases the probability of being admitted to high-rank curricula and reduces the probability of choosing an applied curriculum, and the 2013 reform did not change that. While the reform weakly improved rural students’ tendency to graduate on time, it diminished the probability that they were admitted to high-rank curricula. So, paradoxically and contrary to the intention of the reform, higher state involvement in higher education financing has not improved the equity in university admission in Estonia in terms of either socioeconomic background or regional disparities. We claim that part of the explanation of that paradox lies in the conditionality of this reform and the combination of a scarce needs-based and a competitive merit-based student support system in Estonia. We see our broader contribution in emphasising the important role of support systems in the future analysis of the potential to improve students’ access.

The Impact of Television Advertisements on Student Decision-Making Process for College Admission: An exploratory study in India

COVID-19 drove universities throughout the world forcing Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to go online or virtual. Admissions advertising and student recruitment were two of the sectors that were severely hit. Internet-based advertising has to entirely replace the old advertising environment. Although certain institutions were still able to conduct virtual tours, forums, and information sessions, the amount of involvement differed among colleges and universities. An exploratory study was conducted to investigate how effective Internet advertisements were in influencing students' admission decisions. During the academic year, 2020-21 at several institutions in India's western region, data were collected using the snowball sampling approach on 930 freshly enrolled students. The findings show that the efficacy of Internet ads for university admission is negatively correlated with the student's age group. Surprisingly, the study discovered that both rural and urban students were equally interested in online ads, and that family background had no impact on receptiveness to internet advertisements. (*The paper was presented at the 2nd Conference on Business Data Analytics: Innovation in emerging trends in management data analytics. Apeejay School of Management, Dwarka, Delhi, India. November 2021)

The Autonomy-validity Dilemma in Mechanical Prediction Procedures: The Quest for a Compromise

A robust finding in psychological research is that combining information with a mechanical rule results in more valid predictions than combining information holistically in the mind. Nevertheless, information is typically combined holistically in practice, resulting in suboptimal predictions and decisions. Earlier research showed that decision makers are more likely to use mechanical prediction procedures when they retain autonomy in the decision-making process. However, it remains largely unknown how different autonomy-enhancing features affect predictive validity. Therefore, in two pre-registered studies (total N = 342), we investigated if and how prediction procedures can be designed such that they satisfy decision-makers’ autonomy needs and acceptance without reducing predictive validity. Based on archival application data from a university admission procedure, participants predicted applicants’ first-year GPA and chance of dropout. The results of Bayesian analyses showed that participants preferred prediction procedures in which they retained autonomy by choosing consistent predictor weights of a mechanical rule or by holistically adjusting the predictions of an optimal regression model. In general, these prediction procedures resulted in slightly higher predictive validity compared to fully holistic prediction. Providing participants with predictor validity information slightly increased predictive validity when participants could choose predictor weights, but not when making holistic predictions or adjusting optimal model predictions. Giving decision makers a role in designing mechanical rules through choosing weights based on explicit predictive validity information could help promote the implementation and validity of mechanical prediction in practice.

Guaranteeing the Right to Attend Higher Education of Vulnerable Groups and Minorities

The right to education is a fundamental right of the person, which is recognized and guaranteed in Albania by international acts and domestic legislation. The right to education is a positive right, which not only must be recognized but it obligates the State to take all measures to enable its realization. However, this right is not an absolute right, which means that the State has the obligation to guarantee the right to education up to the 9-year system, while it is at the discretion of the individual to attend or not the secondary and higher education. The right to access education in the university system can be conditioned by a series of criteria set in laws and bylaws. This paper will analyze the innovations and conditions in the criteria provided by the law “On higher education” and its bylaws regarding university admission of students belonging to vulnerable groups such as minorities by combining the theoretical analysis with the practical implementation of these criteria. Received: 14 June 2021 / Accepted: 4 August 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021