Various Approaches to Measuring Effectiveness of Tertiary Education

The paper aims at assessing selected approaches to measuring effectiveness of tertiary education and their applicability. The applied methods, among others, include classical methods (ANOVA, Mincerian earnings function, correspondence analysis, hierarchical agglomerative clustering), as well as new ideas (application of Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Rank Test to determine the significance of differences in incomes before and after reaching the higher education). The research is based on the data coming both from Polish (Social Diagnosis, Study of Human Capital), as well as German databases (SOEP). Europe 2020 is the EU’s growth strategy for the upcoming decade. Its main priority is to support the creation of knowledge-based and balanced economy, which favours social inclusion and cohesion. Tertiary education is one of the essential factors in achieving main goals of this strategy. In order to define and realize all the educational aims of the strategy, European Commission issued The Higher Education Modernisation Agenda, which recommends among other increasing the number of universities’ graduates, encouraging people from various social groups to undertake study, increasing quality of tertiary education, adjusting the curricula to labour market needs, directing higher education at financial crisis issues, as well as introducing outcome oriented funding of the universities (output-budgeting)