Rural-urban gap in academic performance at a highly selective Chinese university: variations and determinants

ABSTRACT

Rural students’ academic performance is of critical importance for college success and later life outcomes. Prior literature on the rural-urban gap in academic performance has produced mixed results. Drawing on data from students at a highly selective university in Beijing, this study compares the differences in academic performance between students of rural and urban origins across fields of study and college years. Results demonstrate that rural students academically lag behind their urban peers in arts and humanities and STEM fields, but not in social sciences. A significant rural-urban gap in academic performance exists among first- and second-year students, but not among third- and fourth-year students. Further analyses show that in the early stage of their college career the rural-urban gap in academic performance can be largely explained by rural students’ disadvantages in family backgrounds and the type of high school attended. To some extent, these findings suggest that Chinese colleges and universities play a role in leveling the field by alleviating rural students’ disadvantages associated with family backgrounds and K-12 education.

KEYWORDS:

• Rural-urban gap
• academic performance
• fields of study
• time use
• I-E-O

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ideally, I would also want to control for the influence of students’ province of origin, as one HERD reviewer suggested. Unfortunately, the CCESQ did not ask any question about province of origin.

2 Chinese students often have to decide their majors (or at least fields of study) when they apply for college. It is very difficult to change major once they are enrolled. Among those who have changed their major, it is more likely to change majors within the same fields (e.g., STEM) than change to a different fields of study.