This thesis is comprised of three essays that examine three contemporary themes in UK higher education that have emerged, particularly over the past two decades, within an expanding higher education sector.

The first essay focuses on the issue of Vice Chancellor (VC) pay, which has risen considerably in real terms since the early 1990s. Vice Chancellors are among the highest paid public sector CEOs and the level and annual increase in pay generates an annual furore in the popular media and from teaching and lecturers’ unions. Specifically, we investigate whether VC pay awards are justified, given that VCs now require greater managerial skills than in the past due to the complexity and the size of the institutions they now manage. We find that VC pay is related to success in furthering university expansion and is associated with success in widening participation in accordance with current government policy, which suggests that there may be scope in introducing some performance element in VC pay determination. There is also evidence that internal pay structure and external comparable pay are important in determining VC pay.

The second essay is set against the backdrop of rising student debt and examines student debt expectation. We offer a novel contribution to the limited literature that exists on this issue. We find that expected debt is related to student demographic and socio-economic characteristics, future earnings expectations, student time preference and risk taking behaviour. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the current system of student financial support has little effect on debt expectations and may compromise HE participation particularly amongst students in the lower socio-economic groups.

The final essay investigates the upward drift in the percentage share of ‘good’ degree classifications in UK higher education, which increased considerably since the mid- 2000s and coincides with a rise in the maximum limit universities are allowed to charge potential students for tuition. We find evidence of grade inflation in UK higher education since the mid-2000s which coincides with the sharp increase in fees students were obliged to pay. Thus, degree classifications may lose their worth as signals of graduate ability and the current system of degree classification may need some revision if correct signals of graduate ability and effort are to be sent to interested parties.

This study examines the performance of the men’s senior national soccer teams of England and France between the years 1996 and 2011. The paper models team performance using an array of match-specific variables including the racial composition of the starting eleven. We find no definitive evidence that the racial composition of the national teams exerts an influence on match outcome for either country over the period reviewed. In addition, while there is no statistical support for the view that the identity of the England national team manager is an important determinant of performance, there is mild evidence that the converse is the case for France.

This paper uses data drawn from the English Football League to model separate hazard rates for club managers for the 2001/2, 2002/3 and 2003/4 seasons. On average over the three seasons, approximately one-third of managers involuntarily exited employment status with their club. We model the hazard using a standard logistic model exploiting information on the spell at risk rather than the individual. The role of neglected heterogeneity is also examined using random and fixed effects logistic models within a discrete-time setting. League position at the start of the spell at risk is found to be the most important determinant of a manager’s involuntary exit. A variety of individual specific human capital and other covariates are found to be unimportant in determining the hazard and no role for unobservable heterogeneity as captured by random effects is detected.

Performance equations are estimated using ALIS data for two cohorts of students in England and Wales taking Economics A-level examinations in 1998 and 2000. The approach adopted uses an ordered probit model and the empirical results confirm some established research findings in the educational literature. In particular, we find that prior attainment at GCSE level and performance in GCSE Mathematics exert a strong influence on A-level achievement in Economics. However, we also find a significant gender differential in performance in both years. A counterfactual exercise was implemented and this established that standards within the subject appear to have remained relatively constant across the two years in question.

This paper uses ALIS data to compare academic performance in two subjects often viewed as relatively close substitutes for one another at A-level. The important role of GCSE achievement is confirmed for both subjects. There is evidence of strong gender effects and variation in outcomes across Examination Boards. A counterfactual exercise suggests that if the sample of Business Studies candidates had studied Economics nearly 40% of those who obtained a grade C or better in the former subject would not have done so in the latter. The opposite exercise uggests that 12% more Economics candidates would have achieved a grade C or better if they had taken Business Studies. In order to render a Business Studies A-level grade comparable to an Economics one in terms of relative difficulty, we estimate that a downward adjustment of 1.5 UCAS points should be applied to the former subject. This adjustment is lower than that suggested by correction factors based on conventional subject pair analysis for these two subjects.