The Reform of Curricula in the Spanish University System: How Well Matched Are New Bachelor’s Degrees to Jobs
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Background
2.1. Educational Mismatch among University Graduates: Theoretical Explanations
2.2. Educational Mismatch among University Graduates: Empirical Evidence
3. Methods
3.1. Educational Mismatch Measurement: Subjective Self-Assessment
Incidence of Educational Mismatch
3.2. Modeling the Education–Job Match
3.2.1. The Econometric Model
3.2.2. A Multinomial Logit Model of the Probability of Education–Employment Matching
3.2.3. Estimation Results
3.2.4. Tests for the Multinomial Logistic Regression Model
4. The Education–job Matching Process
4.1. A Binomial Probit Model with Sample Selection
4.2. Estimation Results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Current Job in 2014 (EILU2014 Survey) (b) | Current Job in 2019 (EILU2019 Survey) (c) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Freq. | Percent | Freq. | Percent | |
Educational (mis)match | ||||
No mismatch | 12,387 | 66.38 | 16,395 | 67.29 |
Horizontal mismatch | 1379 | 7.39 | 2735 | 11.23 |
Vertical mismatch | 1725 | 9.24 | 1655 | 6.79 |
Vertical and horizontal mismatch | 3169 | 16.98 | 3580 | 14.69 |
Total | 18,660 | 100.00 | 24,365 | 100.00 |
Pr (Jobmatch = 1) | Pr (Jobmatch = 2) | Pr (Jobmatch = 3) | Pr (Jobmatch = 4) | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Mismatch | Horizontal Mismatch | Vertical Mismatch | Vertical and Horizontal Mismatch | |||||||||
dy/dx | Std. Err. | dy/dx | Std. Err. | dy/dx | Std. Err. | dy/dx | Std. Err. | |||||
Bachelor’s degree awarded (1) | ||||||||||||
Educational Studies | 0.094 | *** | 0.022 | −0.050 | 0.018 | −0.007 | 0.015 | −0.037 | 0.015 | |||
Teaching | 0.103 | *** | 0.018 | −0.067 | 0.014 | 0.011 | 0.012 | −0.047 | 0.012 | |||
Fine Arts (2) | −0.132 | 0.020 | 0.032 | ** | 0.014 | 0.050 | *** | 0.013 | 0.050 | *** | 0.013 | |
Geography and History (3) | −0.117 | 0.026 | 0.074 | *** | 0.016 | −0.061 | 0.024 | 0.103 | *** | 0.015 | ||
Philosophy | −0.089 | 0.036 | 0.046 | ** | 0.021 | −0.042 | 0.033 | 0.084 | *** | 0.021 | ||
Foreign Languages (4) | −0.046 | 0.026 | 0.036 | ** | 0.016 | −0.026 | 0.022 | 0.036 | ** | 0.018 | ||
Language and Literature | 0.047 | 0.030 | −0.020 | 0.020 | −0.064 | 0.030 | 0.038 | ** | 0.019 | |||
Economics | 0.022 | 0.022 | −0.007 | 0.016 | 0.053 | *** | 0.014 | −0.068 | 0.016 | |||
Political Sciences | −0.157 | 0.028 | 0.064 | *** | 0.018 | 0.054 | *** | 0.016 | 0.039 | ** | 0.019 | |
Psychology (5) | −0.006 | 0.021 | 0.001 | 0.016 | 0.001 | 0.015 | 0.004 | 0.015 | ||||
Sociology | −0.109 | 0.042 | 0.067 | *** | 0.026 | 0.027 | 0.026 | 0.015 | 0.027 | |||
Finance and Accounting | 0.096 | *** | 0.035 | −0.044 | 0.028 | 0.026 | 0.020 | −0.078 | 0.025 | |||
Business Administration | 0.058 | *** | 0.019 | −0.038 | 0.014 | 0.059 | *** | 0.012 | −0.079 | 0.013 | ||
Labor Relations | 0.015 | 0.027 | −0.028 | 0.021 | 0.017 | 0.017 | −0.005 | 0.018 | ||||
Marketing | −0.038 | 0.024 | 0.029 | 0.016 | 0.042 | *** | 0.015 | −0.033 | 0.017 | |||
Law | −0.007 | 0.020 | 0.000 | 0.014 | 0.032 | ** | 0.013 | −0.025 | 0.014 | |||
Biology | −0.008 | 0.026 | −0.035 | 0.020 | 0.051 | *** | 0.015 | −0.008 | 0.018 | |||
Biomedical and Health Engineering (6) | 0.096 | *** | 0.029 | −0.010 | 0.020 | −0.002 | 0.022 | −0.084 | 0.025 | |||
Environmental Sciences | −0.079 | 0.025 | 0.057 | *** | 0.016 | 0.016 | 0.017 | 0.006 | 0.017 | |||
Chemistry | 0.030 | 0.027 | −0.021 | 0.021 | 0.057 | *** | 0.016 | −0.065 | 0.022 | |||
Geology (7) | −0.072 | 0.029 | 0.016 | 0.021 | 0.010 | 0.021 | 0.046 | ** | 0.019 | |||
Physics (8) | 0.188 | *** | 0.041 | 0.008 | 0.022 | −0.106 | 0.045 | −0.090 | 0.030 | |||
Mathematics and Statistics | 0.111 | *** | 0.027 | −0.018 | 0.020 | −0.006 | 0.019 | −0.087 | 0.021 | |||
Computing | 0.200 | *** | 0.022 | −0.100 | 0.018 | 0.042 | *** | 0.013 | −0.143 | 0.018 | ||
Chemical Engineering | 0.064 | 0.036 | 0.042 | 0.022 | −0.025 | 0.030 | −0.082 | 0.027 | ||||
Electric Engineering (9) | 0.176 | *** | 0.034 | −0.012 | 0.023 | −0.012 | 0.024 | −0.151 | 0.030 | |||
Telecom Engineering | 0.170 | *** | 0.023 | −0.048 | 0.017 | 0.031 | ** | 0.014 | −0.152 | 0.019 | ||
Industrial Engineering | 0.163 | *** | 0.021 | −0.034 | 0.015 | 0.013 | 0.014 | −0.142 | 0.017 | |||
Naval and Aeronautical Engineering | 0.178 | *** | 0.035 | −0.018 | 0.023 | −0.002 | 0.024 | −0.158 | 0.032 | |||
Food Engineering (10) | 0.052 | 0.033 | 0.024 | 0.022 | 0.031 | 0.020 | −0.106 | 0.030 | ||||
Civil Engineering (11) | 0.089 | *** | 0.022 | 0.019 | 0.015 | −0.033 | 0.017 | −0.075 | 0.016 | |||
Architecture | 0.072 | *** | 0.022 | −0.021 | 0.016 | −0.009 | 0.016 | −0.042 | 0.016 | |||
Agricultural Engineering (12) | 0.054 | ** | 0.022 | −0.021 | 0.016 | 0.014 | 0.014 | −0.047 | 0.016 | |||
Veterinary | 0.312 | *** | 0.042 | −0.089 | 0.031 | −0.131 | 0.045 | −0.093 | 0.027 | |||
Odontology | 1.715 | *** | 0.066 | 0.308 | *** | 0.069 | −0.758 | 0.023 | −1.265 | 0.033 | ||
Medicine | 0.641 | *** | 0.061 | −0.200 | 0.051 | −0.090 | 0.034 | −0.351 | 0.069 | |||
Nursing | 0.413 | *** | 0.028 | −0.081 | 0.020 | −0.064 | 0.019 | −0.268 | 0.027 | |||
Physiotherapy | 0.216 | *** | 0.031 | −0.028 | 0.023 | −0.079 | 0.027 | −0.109 | 0.024 | |||
Pharmacy (13) | 0.211 | *** | 0.033 | −0.054 | 0.025 | −0.042 | 0.024 | −0.115 | 0.025 | |||
Social Work | 0.093 | *** | 0.023 | −0.075 | 0.019 | 0.005 | 0.014 | −0.023 | 0.015 | |||
Sports Science | −0.031 | 0.025 | −0.029 | 0.020 | 0.045 | *** | 0.015 | 0.016 | 0.017 | |||
Tourism | −0.126 | 0.025 | 0.013 | 0.017 | 0.092 | *** | 0.014 | 0.021 | 0.016 | |||
Transport and Services | 0.046 | 0.034 | 0.011 | 0.023 | 0.039 | 0.020 | −0.096 | 0.029 | ||||
Factors to find the job: theory (b) | 0.194 | *** | 0.005 | −0.031 | 0.004 | −0.015 | 0.003 | −0.148 | 0.004 | |||
Factors to find the job: practical skills | 0.106 | *** | 0.006 | −0.029 | 0.004 | 0.009 | ** | 0.004 | −0.086 | 0.004 | ||
Factors to find the job: knowing languages | 0.050 | *** | 0.006 | 0.032 | *** | 0.004 | −0.037 | 0.004 | −0.045 | 0.005 | ||
Factors to find the job: computer skills | 0.010 | 0.006 | 0.023 | *** | 0.004 | −0.002 | 0.003 | −0.031 | 0.005 | |||
Factors to find the job: management ability | 0.073 | *** | 0.007 | 0.016 | *** | 0.005 | −0.019 | 0.004 | −0.069 | 0.005 | ||
Factors to find the job: personal and social skills | −0.031 | 0.008 | 0.007 | 0.006 | 0.001 | 0.005 | 0.022 | *** | 0.006 | |||
Double university degree (=1 yes) | 0.073 | *** | 0.014 | 0.024 | *** | 0.009 | −0.033 | 0.010 | −0.065 | 0.013 | ||
Master’s degree (=1 yes) | 0.092 | *** | 0.006 | 0.008 | 0.004 | −0.035 | 0.004 | −0.064 | 0.004 | |||
Age under 30 years (c) | 0.059 | *** | 0.007 | −0.015 | 0.005 | −0.013 | 0.004 | −0.030 | 0.005 | |||
Age of 35 or more years | −0.033 | 0.008 | 0.050 | *** | 0.005 | −0.006 | 0.004 | −0.011 | 0.006 | |||
Private university (=1 yes) | 0.045 | *** | 0.009 | 0.008 | 0.006 | −0.001 | 0.005 | −0.052 | 0.007 | |||
Gender (=1 male) | 0.003 | 0.006 | 0.008 | 0.004 | −0.008 | 0.003 | −0.003 | 0.004 |
First Stage: Participation Equation (Probit) | Second Stage: Outcome Equation (Probit) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coef. | Robust Std. Err. | Coef. | Robust Std. Err. | |||
Arts and humanities degrees | −0.009 | 0.083 | −0.262 | ** | 0.108 | |
STEM degrees (a) | −0.013 | 0.052 | 0.252 | *** | 0.088 | |
Health sciences degrees | −0.100 | 0.073 | 0.304 | ** | 0.130 | |
Factors to find the job: theory (b) | −0.195 | *** | 0.049 | 0.419 | *** | 0.076 |
Factors to find the job: practical skills | −0.058 | 0.055 | 0.231 | *** | 0.086 | |
Factors to find the job: knowing languages | 0.140 | *** | 0.052 | −0.092 | 0.078 | |
Factors to find the job: computer skills | 0.146 | *** | 0.051 | −0.224 | *** | 0.085 |
Factors to find the job: management ability | −0.030 | 0.063 | 0.221 | ** | 0.088 | |
Factors to find the job: personal and social skills | 0.112 | 0.066 | −0.463 | *** | 0.110 | |
Double university degree (=1 yes) | 0.341 | *** | 0.103 | −0.075 | 0.173 | |
Master’s degree (=1 yes) | 0.179 | *** | 0.047 | 0.009 | 0.077 | |
Age under 30 years (c) | 0.029 | 0.062 | −0.113 | 0.098 | ||
Age of 35 or more years | −0.072 | 0.059 | −0.050 | 0.091 | ||
Private university (=1 yes) | −0.001 | 0.063 | 0.404 | *** | 0.129 | |
Gender (=1 male) | 0.216 | *** | 0.046 | −0.257 | *** | 0.070 |
Recognized disability (d) | 0.325 | ** | 0.163 | |||
Mother with a university education (=1 yes) | 0.089 | ** | 0.045 | |||
Constant | −1.910 | *** | 0.178 | 2.046 | 0.099 | |
Log pseudolikelihood = −2226.32 | Number of obs. = 6933 | Number of obs. = 581 | ||||
rho = −0.997 [95% Conf. Interval: −1.00, −0.83] | ||||||
Wald test of indep. eqns. (rho = 0): chi2(1) = 9.55 Prob > chi2 = 0.002 | ||||||
Wald chi2(15) = 113.13 Prob > chi2 = p < 0.001 |
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Salas-Velasco, M. The Reform of Curricula in the Spanish University System: How Well Matched Are New Bachelor’s Degrees to Jobs. Systems 2023, 11, 200. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11040200
Salas-Velasco M. The Reform of Curricula in the Spanish University System: How Well Matched Are New Bachelor’s Degrees to Jobs. Systems. 2023; 11(4):200. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11040200
Chicago/Turabian StyleSalas-Velasco, Manuel. 2023. "The Reform of Curricula in the Spanish University System: How Well Matched Are New Bachelor’s Degrees to Jobs" Systems 11, no. 4: 200. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11040200
APA StyleSalas-Velasco, M. (2023). The Reform of Curricula in the Spanish University System: How Well Matched Are New Bachelor’s Degrees to Jobs. Systems, 11(4), 200. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11040200