Does reputation matter? The impact of China’s double world-class policy on the attraction of high-quality students

Abstract

Based on the undergraduate entrance examination data from 2014 to 2021 in China, this study develops a difference-in-differences model and finds that developing world-class universities and disciplines (i.e., the double world-class, the DWC policy) leads to an increase of 4.48 and 5.51 points in the average entrance examination scores of undergraduates for the universities and disciplines included in the DWC policy. The DWC policy has improved the student quality of the world-class universities and disciplines mainly by raising their reputation. Moreover, the impact of the DWC policy on the world-class disciplines varies. Specifically, the DWC policy significantly improves student quality in science, agriculture, and medicine, but it has no significant effect on student quality in engineering; and the improvement in the scores for science is much higher than that for agriculture and medicine. Third, compared to the popular disciplines traditionally favored by students, the DWC policy has a more significant impact on improving the entrance examination scores for unpopular disciplines.