The Potential of Microdata on Higher Education Institutions in Europe

Venue: EUREF-Campus, Torgauer Straße 12-15, 10829 Berlin, Building 16 (InnoZ), Platform

The seminar will introduce participants to the newly created ETER dataset. Supported by the European Commission and by Eurostat, the European Tertiary Education Register is an officially validated census of all institutions of higher education (HEIs) in Europe, covering the vast majority of students enrolled in tertiary education. The dataset includes institutional data, student (enrolments and degrees), academic and non-academic staff, with a breakdown by field of education, degree, gender, and nationality. By 2017 data on income sources and expenditures will also be available. All data are geo-referentiated. Due to the census nature of data, it is possible to merge the dataset with data on university output (publications, patents, third mission indicators), as well as with regional data. A number of open issues in the economics of higher education and research, as well as in regional economics, economic geography, public economics, and efficiency analysis can be addressed with a fresh approach.

Andrea Bonaccorsi is Professor of Economics and Management at the School of Engineering of the University of Pisa. He is member of RISE, the group of experts supporting the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation. In the period 2011-2015 he has been member of the board of the Italian Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes. He has been a pioneer in promoting the official production of microdata on HEIs, since the early Aquameth project and the Eimida feasibility studies, whose results have been illustrated in two Edward Elgar books in 2007 and 2014, as well as in academic papers.