Articles

Laws require a twofold qualification of professors at application-oriented universities in Germany: On the one hand they have to be academics and usually hold a PhD, on the other hand they must be able to prove a couple of years of work experience with at least three years outside academia. These careers make it difficult for application-oriented universities to find and attract the brightest and most talented persons as professors. Therefore, appointment procedures need to be regarded and advanced as integral parts of strategic management

We measure selection among high-skilled emigrants from Germany using predicted earnings. Migrants to less equal countries are positively selected relative to nonmigrants, while migrants to more equal countries are negatively selected, consistent with the prediction in Borjas (1987). Positive selection to less equal countries reflects university quality and grades, and negative selection to more equal countries reflects university subject and gender. Migrants to the United States are highly positively selected and concentrated in STEM fields. Our results highlight the relevance of the Borjas model for high-skilled individuals when credit constraints and other migration barriers are unlikely to be binding.

Most German states have recently reduced the duration of university preparatory schooling from 13 to 12 years without changing the graduation requirements. We use nationwide data on high school graduates and the different timing of reform introduction in the federal states to identify the effects on postsecondary education decisions and to evaluate potential effect mechanisms. The results show that university enrollment of female students decreased in the first year after graduation in all analyzed states, whereas participation in voluntary service or staying abroad increased. Furthermore, students from non-academic families are more affected than students from an academic family background