Abstract
The number of university students participating in exchange programs has risen sharply over the last decade. A survey of Swiss university graduates (classes of 1999 and 2001) shows that participation in student exchange programs depends significantly on the socio-economic background of students. We further analyze whether the participants benefit from additional advantages caused by these exchange programs. Analyses show that student exchange programs are associated with higher starting salaries and a higher likelihood of opting for postgraduate degrees. Analyses using instrumental variable estimations (IV), however, show that these outcomes are not causally related to participation in exchange programs.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Swiss Federal Office for Statistics for permission to use the data of the Swiss University Graduate Survey and Sabine Schmidlin and Philipp Dubach for advice. We are particularly grateful to Stefan Denzler of the SKBF for his assistance in processing and revising the dataset. We also thank two anonymous referees and the Editor for their helpful comments and suggestions. Any remaining errors are the sole responsibility of the authors.
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Appendix
Appendix
Descriptive statistics
Variables | Mean | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
Exchange semesters (all) | 0.233 | 0 | 1 |
Exchange semesters (accredited only) | 0.181 | 0 | 1 |
Number of semesters (all) | 12.22 | 8 | 20 |
Number of semesters (accredited only) | 12.36 | 8 | 20 |
Female | 0.492 | 0 | 1 |
Swiss | 0.924 | 0 | 1 |
Mother’s educational level (tertiary) | 0.091 | 0 | 1 |
Resides in university canton | 0.568 | 0 | 1 |
Age starting university | 23.08 | 17 | 35 |
Vocational apprenticeship before university | 0.064 | 0 | 1 |
Degree qualifying for secondary school teaching | 0.035 | 0 | 1 |
Gainfully employed while studying (unrelated) | 0.335 | 0 | 1 |
Gainfully employed while studying (related) | 0.154 | 0 | 1 |
Gainfully employed while studying (related and unrelated) | 0.345 | 0 | 1 |
Dummy for 2001 survey | 0.534 | 0 | 1 |
Social sciences | 0.225 | 0 | 1 |
Economic sciences | 0.172 | 0 | 1 |
Exact sciences | 0.050 | 0 | 1 |
Natural sciences | 0.174 | 0 | 1 |
Humanities | 0.379 | 0 | 1 |
University of Zurich | 0.335 | 0 | 1 |
University of Bern | 0.197 | 0 | 1 |
University of Basel | 0.123 | 0 | 1 |
University of Freiburg | 0.103 | 0 | 1 |
University of Geneva | 0.099 | 0 | 1 |
University of Lausanne | 0.095 | 0 | 1 |
University of Neuenburg | 0.048 | 0 | 1 |
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Messer, D., Wolter, S.C. Are student exchange programs worth it?. High Educ 54, 647–663 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-006-9016-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-006-9016-6