Talk by Andrea Bonaccorsi and Cinzia Daraio

Introducing the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER) dataset: The potential of microdata on universities for empirical analysis and policy making

The seminar will introduce participants to the newly created European Tertiary Education Register (ETER) dataset. Supported by the European Commission and by Eurostat, the ETER 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-referenced. 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. The speakers have both been pioneers in promoting the official production of microdata on HEIs, since the early Aquameth project and the Eimida feasibility studies.  Results have been illustrated in two Edward Elgar books in 2007 and 2014, as well as in academic papers.

Bio: Andrea Bonaccorsi

Andrea Bonaccorsi is Full Professor of Economics and Management at the School of Engineering of the University of Pisa. He has authored in the most important journals in economics of science and technology, innovation policy, and research evaluation and metrics. He is member of RISE, the group of experts supporting the Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Carlos Moedas. He has been working for OECD, DG Research, DG Regio, and several national and regional governments. In the period 2011-2015 he has served as member of the Board of the Italian Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes. He has pioneered the field of microdata on higher education institutions, first with the Aquameth project, then with the Eumida feasibility studies, and finally with ETER, the project supported by Eurostat, DG Education and DG Research aimd at producing microdata on al higher education institutions in Europe. On these issues he has published two books from Edward Elgar (2007 and 2014). He has in preparation a book from Springer on the evaluation of research in Social Sciences and Humanities.

Bio: Cinzia Daraio

Cinzia Daraio is Associate Professor of Management Engineering at the Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering "Antonio Ruberti", University of Rome, La Sapienza. Her research focuses on methodological and empirical studies in productivity and efficiency analysis and performance measurement; development of indicators for the quantitative analysis and evaluation of science, technology higher education and research policy. She has been member of the Steering Committee of the Project: European Tertiary Education Register (ETER), and she is currently member of the Steering Committee of the Project: Implement and Disseminate the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER 2015-2017).