3 ms·

In Denmark, universities (and possibly high schools too, I don't know for sure) get paid by the government based on the number of students passing exams every s

by rvense 7y ago

In Denmark, universities (and possibly high schools too, I don't know for sure) get paid by the government based on the number of students passing exams every semester. I think this is part of what's called "new public management" where you attempt to bring market-like incentives to the public sector.

a-saleh 7y ago
Interesting, universities in Czech republic went through a simmilar scheme, but they'd get disproportionately more funds per head-count of first-year students (on-boarding, I guess?) Several universities switched from entrance exams to a system of "Everybody gets in, it is the first semester that will probably kill you" :-)
- rgblambda 7y ago
  That actually sounds like it might work. I know a lot of people who just scraped through exams but excelled in University as well as a number who aced their exams but struggled and/or dropped out in University (admittedly this was more due to picking easy subjects in High School).
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Same in Poland for more than a decade. It's an open secret here that universities admit many more students than they can handle in order to capture extra funding, and then get rid of the excess after the first year. On my first year, the amount of students was 2x the actual capacity. The first semester was very math-heavy, and everyone knew we had the toughest and CS-unrelated subjects delivered up front in order to weed out half of the year.
  - GoblinSlayer 7y ago
    My university did it, but because the entrance exams can't evaluate students well, while a semester is quite a more precise and prolonged test.
    - a-saleh 7y ago
      Yes, I agree it can work out fairly well :-) On the other hand, I have seen a prof. literaly say something along the lines "Dear students, my purpose here is not to teach you anything, just weed out 50% of you"
jpxw 7y ago
Attempting to force market-like incentives on the public sector often ends up working even worse than a purely public system, it seems to me. Use public or private, but mixing the two leads to odd incentive issues and bad outcomes.

by rvense 7y ago

a-saleh 7y ago

Interesting, universities in Czech republic went through a simmilar scheme, but they'd get disproportionately more funds per head-count of first-year students (on-boarding, I guess?) Several universities switched from entrance exams to a system of "Everybody gets in, it is the first semester that will probably kill you" :-)

rgblambda 7y ago
That actually sounds like it might work. I know a lot of people who just scraped through exams but excelled in University as well as a number who aced their exams but struggled and/or dropped out in University (admittedly this was more due to picking easy subjects in High School).
TeMPOraL 7y ago
Same in Poland for more than a decade. It's an open secret here that universities admit many more students than they can handle in order to capture extra funding, and then get rid of the excess after the first year. On my first year, the amount of students was 2x the actual capacity. The first semester was very math-heavy, and everyone knew we had the toughest and CS-unrelated subjects delivered up front in order to weed out half of the year.
- GoblinSlayer 7y ago
  My university did it, but because the entrance exams can't evaluate students well, while a semester is quite a more precise and prolonged test.
  - a-saleh 7y ago
    Yes, I agree it can work out fairly well :-) On the other hand, I have seen a prof. literaly say something along the lines "Dear students, my purpose here is not to teach you anything, just weed out 50% of you"

jpxw 7y ago

Attempting to force market-like incentives on the public sector often ends up working even worse than a purely public system, it seems to me. Use public or private, but mixing the two leads to odd incentive issues and bad outcomes.