Indonesian Higher Education 123
on family background, the proportion of Muslim students in the higher
education group is lower than the proportion of Muslim students in the
upper secondary school group. The proportion of students who lived in
a city or a town area when they were 12 years old is lower in the higher
education group than in the upper secondary group. The higher education
group has lower average number of siblings than the upper secondary
group.
Students who participate in higher education generally come from
higher SES families. The proxies for SES in this study are parents’ education,
family income, and a dummy variable indicating whether a student worked
while studying in upper secondary education. The proportion of parents
that attended upper secondary and higher education (FATHSHHE and
MOTHSHHE) is larger for the higher education group than the upper
secondary group. The proportion of fathers and mothers who attended
upper secondary or higher education (FATHSHHE and MOTHSHHE) in
the higher education group are 36.5 and 23.8 per cent respectively. The
proportions of FATHSHHE and MOTHSHHE in this group are higher than
in the upper secondary school group where the figures are only 15.2 and
8.1 per cent respectively. Moreover, the natural logarithm of family income
in the higher education group is 16.594, whereas in the upper secondary
group it is 16.362, and the proportion of students in the higher education
group who worked while studying in upper secondary school is lower
than for the upper secondary group.
In terms of academic achievement, students from the higher education
group are superior to students from the upper secondary education group.
The indicators of academic achievement are measured by final exam scores
in upper and lower secondary education (SCORESMA and SCORESMP)
and a dummy variable for whether the student failed a grade in primary
education (PRIFAIL). Students who attend higher education had a higher
average final exam scores in lower secondary education (SCORESMP)
and upper secondary education (SCORESMA). The average final exam
scores, SCORESMA and SCORESMP, of the higher education group are
38.595 and 32.366, respectively whereas the average scores for the upper
secondary education group are 36.168 and 28.916, respectively. The higher
education group also has a lower proportion of PRIFAIL than the upper
secondary group. The rate of failure in one or more grades in primary
school in the higher education group is 4.5 per cent, whereas the failure
rate in the upper secondary education group is 12.5 per cent.