How Does the New College Entrance Examination Reform Impact Student Admission Quality? An Empirical Study in Hunan’s Local Higher Normal Colleges

The "3+1+2" subject selection mechanism, combined with the college major group admission model, has become the most popular scheme in the ongoing reform of the new college entrance examination (CEE) in China. This study utilizes CEE admission panel data from local higher normal colleges in Hunan Province from 2018 to 2023 to assess the reform’s impacts using a fixed-effects model, taking college major group as the unit of analysis. The empirical study examines changes in admission quality among both advantaged and disadvantaged college major groups, across various subject categories, before and after the reform’s implementation. Findings indicate that the reform has significantly improved admission quality in college advantaged major groups, whereas disadvantaged groups have experienced a decline. The trend analysis suggests that the new CEE’s "major-oriented" mechanism marks a partial breakthrough from the traditional "score-centric" admissions system. It highlights immediate improvements in the admission quality in college advantaged groups, yet lacks a sustained moderating effect over time. Conversely, the ongoing decline in admission quality within college disadvantaged groups post-reform points to a significant moderating effect of the new CEE reform, underscoring the need for in-depth studies to track and clarify these disparities. This study sheds light on the differentiated effects of the new CEE reform, suggesting directions for future educational policy and reform efforts.