Measuring Diversity in Higher Education Institutions: A Review of Literature and Empirical Approaches

Abstract

This paper reviews studies on diversity in higher education institutions and suggests empirical approaches to measure diversity. " Diversity " in this paper refers to the internal and external differences among academic programs and institutions. As the empirical literature is relatively salient about how to measure diversity in higher education, the study suggests and compares the use of the Herfindhal index, Gini coefficient, Theil entropy index and the Birnbaum (1983) measure. Applying the indices to data on Dutch higher education, the results indicate limited diversity between institutions, disciplines, and bachelor's programs. The diversity at the master's program and first year bachelor's program levels increased between 2008 and 2013.