The Expansion of Higher Education and Educational Gender Gap in Iran

Universal access to higher education and radical increase in demand for higher education in 2000s necessitated the expansion of higher education institutions. The rise in the number of such institutions was unprecedented. In fact, all districts of Iran had a higher education institution by 2008. Even very small districts received a private or public higher education institution to reduce transportation costs and expand access to higher education. This enhanced access has a more disproportionate effect on women compared to men. In this paper we combine data on higher education institutions between 1999 and 2016 with educational outcomes of individuals aged between 18 to 35 years old in the population census 2016 to estimate the impact of access to higher education on educational attainment and educational gender gap. Using district and age fixed effects, we do not find a significant effect on overall education of individuals. However, women received a significantly larger benefit from the expansion of higher education institutions.