Evaluation of policies for higher education targeted at international students

University studies at an advanced level are an important pathway for highly educated immigration from low- and middle-income countries. This project aims to examine two major policy reforms in Sweden directed at international students in these programs (i.e., third-country nationals from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland): the introduction of tuition fees in 2011 for master’s program students, and more generous rules for permanent residence permits for doctoral students and their family members in 2014.

Starting in the autumn of 2011, Sweden introduced tuition fees for international students applying to Swedish higher education institutions (outside of exchange programs). This led to a sharp decline in the number of new international students, particularly from low-income countries. Although these changes in the volume and composition of the student population have been documented, knowledge is limited regarding the potential effects of this reform on enrolled students with different backgrounds (native, EU/EEA/Swiss, and international). The analysis has two main components. First, we will compare academic outcomes and labor market results among international students before and after the reform. Second, by leveraging the fact that exposure to this reform varied across programs (for example, programs in science and engineering had a higher share of international students compared to those in humanities and social sciences), we can study the effects on native students and those from the EU/EEA in terms of academic, labor market, and marriage market outcomes (as well as investigate mechanisms such as classroom diversity and labor market competition).

The 2014 reform made it easier for doctoral students to obtain permanent residence permits for themselves and their family members (e.g., by allowing more flexibility in residence history and a longer period to seek employment after graduation). Using native doctoral students and EU/EEA doctoral students as a comparison group, we plan to study how this reform affected international doctoral students in terms of staying in Sweden, employment, family formation, and integration.

Researchers

Akib Khan

Erik Lundberg

Olof Åslund