Removing institutional barriers or reframing inequality: effects of China’s college entrance exam reform on inequality in internal migrant students’ higher education attainment

With the backdrop of global migration trends over the past two decades, there has been a significant rise in the number of migrant students enrolled in school systems around the world. Ample research has shown that migrant students often confront systemic barriers and inequities in access to educational opportunities compared to native students at the higher education level. In response to these persistent disparities facing migrant student populations, governmental authorities in different national contexts have sought to enact targeted policies aimed at reducing gaps between migrant and native students and improving their educational outcomes in access to higher education. Despite growing interest in addressing migrant student challenges through targeted policies, few studies have evaluated the causal impacts of these interventions and assessed their effectiveness in reducing educational inequalities. Using data from the 2018 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS, N = 4323), this study contributes to the literature by investigating the causal impact of the college entrance examination reform policy on migrant students’ access to higher education in China. The findings of this study reveal that the policy significantly increases the probability of migrant students’ access to higher education, but this improvement is driven primarily by those from higher family socioeconomic backgrounds and urban household registrations. The policy thus has a limited effect on reducing educational inequality. The findings of this study will inform policies in China and beyond for reducing inequalities and expanding migrant students’ access to higher education within institutional constraints.