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Are Short-Cycle Programs Worthwhile?
Table 2.3 Program-Level Average Outcomes and Value Added: Overall and by Field of Study Outcomes Outcome and field
Value added
N
Mean
Mean
P25
P50
P75
Employment Agronomy and veterinary Arts Health Social sciences Economics and business Engineering and architecture Math and natural sciences Total programs
31 79 48 39 325 311 18 851
0.61 0.65 0.74 0.62 0.79 0.78 0.82 0.76
−0.14 −0.11 −0.01 −0.15 0.03 0.01 0.05 0.00
−0.29 −0.20 −0.12 −0.24 −0.04 −0.07 0.03 −0.10
−0.21 −0.09 0.02 −0.15 0.06 0.02 0.07 0.02
−0.09 −0.02 0.12 −0.08 0.13 0.10 0.09 0.10
Monthly wages Agronomy and veterinary Arts Health Social sciences Economics and business Engineering and architecture Math and natural sciences Total programs
31 79 48 39 325 311 18 851
762.18 841.96 952.17 790.76 860.48 935.57 939.52 891.03
−122.41 −53.58 78.35 −85.13 −19.99 31.08 30.46 0.00
−157.57 −130.28 −66.39 −164.30 −84.19 −59.38 −41.60 −86.42
−124.94 −80.59 10.28 −102.92 −39.04 18.24 2.29 −19.51
−102.06 30.21 230.28 6.92 29.40 102.60 91.26 57.04
Source: Ferreyra et al.(2020), background paper for this book. Note: In this table, a program is the unit of observation. Statistics are weighted by the number of students in the program. Value added is estimated with fixed-effects models (see box 2.4); it averages zero for each outcome. Wages are expressed in thousands of 2013 Colombian pesos. SCPs taught by Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje are included. N = number of programs; P = percentile; SCP = short-cycle program.
More selective or specialized institutions also deliver higher wage contributions, as well as programs taught in large cities. Finally, distance programs make lower (but only marginally significant) contributions than face-to-face programs. From a policy standpoint, the wide variation in program-level outcomes and contributions is concerning. It suggests the need for stronger monitoring on the part of the policy maker—particularly to identify programs in the lower tails of outcomes and contributions—as well as the importance of making information on program-level outcomes and contributions available to students who are choosing a program. At the same time, Ferreyra et al. (2020) caution against using this information to build rankings, since these are highly sensitive to the underlying metric. In other words, the ranking of programs based on average outcomes is different from that based on value-added contributions, and rankings based on outcomes (or contributions) for formal employment are different from those for salaries.23 Chapter 5 returns to these issues.