There is a large literature on the influence of institutional characteristics on student academic achievement. In contrast, relatively little research focusses on student time allocation and its effects on student performance. This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the effect...

We analyse peer effects among students of a middle-sized Italian public university. We explain students’ average grade in exams passed during their Second Level Degree course on the basis of their pre-determined measures of abilities, personal characteristics and peer group abilities. Thanks...

The empirical literature using large international students’ assessments tends to neglect the role of school composition variables in order not to incur in a misidentification of peer effects. However, this could lead to an error of higher logical type since the learning environment...

The empirical literature using large international students’ assessments tends to neglect the role of school composition variables in order not to incur in a misidentification of peer effects. However, this leads to an error of higher logical type since the learning environment crucially...

This study investigates what factors determine students’ academic performance in five major economies in East Asia, using the dataset from the 2007 survey of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). We explicitly consider initial maturity differences, endogeneity of class...

In questo lavoro si analizza l’efficacia dei corsi a livello pre-universitari diretti a colmare eventuali lacune nelle competenze di base degli studenti. La nostra analisi riguarda gli effetti prodotti da un progetto che all’inizio dell’anno accademico 2008-09 ha offerto agli studenti...

In this paper we investigate the effects of class size on the achievements of a sample of college students enrolled at a middle-sized Italian public university. To estimate the effects of class size we exploit the exogenous variations in class size determined by a maximum class size rule...

In Italia, il sistema universitario ha recentemente sperimentato una significativa trasformazione che ha comportato un vasto processo di revisione normativa di molti dei suoi elementi fondamentali. Il modello 3+2(+3) definisce una nuova strutturazione dei titoli accademici, rispondendo alla...

This paper takes a new look at the determinants of cognitive ability. Using the results of the 2006 PISA survey for five Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay) it adopts an efficiency analysis perspective. Rather than selecting as inputs a few variables, it...

Using data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (2006-PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (2007-TIMSS), we investigate the determinants and the effect of being a victim of school bullying on educational achievement for Italian students...