Tldr

Policymakers frequently use education as a welfare policy instrument.

We present the first systematic examination of transferred university students’ impact on the academic performance of students in receiving departments.

But the key question we wanted to analyse is whether the presence and increasing number of transferred students exerts any influence on the academic performance of students in receiving departments.

Figure 1: Percentage of transferred students and average grade of students in receiving departments Note: The figure plots the average university grade of students in receiving departments (dotted line) and the ratio of transferred students, defined as the percentage of transferred students over the total number of students (continuous line).

We very much hope that our research contributes to a more holistic cost-befit analysis of this policy that can examine its impact from the transferred students’ perspective, as well as look at the evidence from other departments and different academic fields.