Do Public Investments in Education Improve Student Performance - The Case of EU Funding in the Czech Republic - Bachelor’s Thesis

Sep 30, 2026

This bachelor’s thesis examines whether public investments in educational infrastructure improve student excellence in the Czech Republic. Using a panel dataset of secondary schools from 2014 to 2024, it evaluates the effectiveness of the Integrated Regional Operational Programme. A two-stage hurdle model is applied: a correlated random-effects logit for participation probability and a PPML estimator with fixed effects for competition performance. Results show infrastructural subsidies do not significantly raise participation or directly improve competition scores, indicating a hardware-versus-software gap that requires complementary “soft” support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages66

Reading Time2 h 46 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Literature Review

CHARLES UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Economic Studies Do Public Investments in Education Improve Student Performance? The Case of EU Funding in the Czech Republic Bachelor’s Thesis Author: Karolína Lomnická Study program: Economics and Finance Supervisor: Mgr. Matěj Opatrný, Ph.D. Year of defense: 2026 Declaration of Authorship The author hereby declares that she compiled this thesis independently, using only the listed resources and literature, and the thesis has not been used to obtain any other academic title. AI tools were utilized to refine the writing and stylistic form of this thesis, to enhance data processing code in R, and to format the resulting statistical tables into LaTeX. The author cautiously reviewed, verified, and edited all AI-generated outputs and assumes full responsibility for the final publication. The use of these tools complies fully with established principles of academic integrity. The author grants to Charles University permission to reproduce and to distribute copies of this thesis in whole or in part and agrees with the thesis being used for study and scientific purposes. Prague, May 5, 2026 Karolina Lomnicka Abstract This thesis investigates the impact of public investments in educational infrastructure on student excellence in the Czech Republic. Using a unique panel dataset of secondary schools from 2014 to 2024, we evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Regional Operational Programme. A two-part hurdle model is employed to analyze success in the Students’ Professional Activities competition. The first stage, using a Correlated Random Effects logit model, examines the probability of participation, while the second stage, using a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood estimator with fixed effects, focuses on competition performance measured by a calculated score. The results indicate that infrastructural subsidies alone do not significantly increase the likelihood of school participation in the national round, nor do they directly improve the competition scores of the participating pupils. While the investments modernize the learning environment, they do not directly translate into improved elite research performance at the national level. The findings highlight a ’hardware [vs. software](vs. software)’ gap, suggesting that physical infrastructure investments must be complemented by targeted ’soft’ support, such as teacher mentorship and institutional research culture, to effectively foster academic excellence. JEL Classification I21, I22, C21, C23, C25, R58 Keywords educational infrastructure, IROP, EU funds, student excellence, SOČ competition, hurdle model, PPML Title Do Public Investments in Education Improve Student Performance? The Case of EU Funding in the Czech Republic Author’s e-mail [49573686@fsv. cuni. cz](49573686@fsv. cuni. cz) Supervisor’s e-mail [matej. opatrny@fsv. cuni. cz](matej. opatrny@fsv. cuni. cz) Abstrakt Tato práce zkoumá dopad veřejných investic do vzdělávací infrastruktury na excelenci studentů v České republice. Na základě unikátního panelového datovéhosouboru o středních školách z let 2014-2024 hodnotíme efektivitu Integrovaného regionálního operačního programu. Dvoustupňový Hurdle model se využije kanalýze úspěšnosti v soutěži Středoškolská odborná činnost. První fáze, využívající logit model s korelovanými náhodnými efekty, zkoumá pravděpodobnost účasti, zatímco druhá fáze, využívající Poissonův estimátor pseudo-maximální věrohodnosti s fixními efekty, se zaměřuje na výsledky v soutěži měřené pomocí vypočteného skóre. Výsledky naznačují, že samotné dotace do infrastruktury významně nezvyšují pravděpodobnost účasti školy v celostátním kole, ani přímo nezlepšují bodové hodnocení zúčastněných žáků . Přestože investice modernizují výukové prostředí, nepromítají se přímo do zvýšení špičkového výzkumného výkonu na celostátní úrovni. Zjištění poukazují na mezeru mezi „hardwarem a softwarem“ a naznačuj

FAQs

What question does the thesis investigate?

The thesis investigates whether public investments in educational infrastructure improve student performance and excellence in the Czech Republic.

How is the data and methodology structured?

It uses a panel dataset of secondary schools from 2014 to 2024 and applies a two-part hurdle model: logit for participation and PPML with fixed effects for competition performance.

What do the results suggest about the impact of infrastructure subsidies?

The results indicate that infrastructural subsidies alone do not significantly increase participation or directly improve competition scores, highlighting a hardware-versus-software gap.

Sep 30, 2026

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