Dongshu Ou
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration and Policy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Associate Director, Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research

Dongshu's research centers on the economics of education and policy evaluation, with a focus on how educational reforms shape social mobility, labor market outcomes, and migration and integration. Dongshu has contributed to leading international journals such as Population and Development Review, Economics of Education Review and Education Economics. Her research has received support from prestigious institutions in Hong Kong and beyond, including the British Academy and Hong Kong's Research General Council (RGC). Through co-establishing the Research Consortium on Education Policy and Development in the Greater Bay Area (ReCEPD), supported by the Tin Ka Ping Foundation, she has advanced comparative and policy-relevant studies on education opportunity and mobility in the region.

Dongshu was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge in 2016/17 and received the Clare Hall Visiting Fellowship. She was also a semi-finalist for the 2013 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. Prior to joining CUHK, she held the position of Research Economist at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. Additionally, she also worked with UNICEF, the Ford Foundation, and New Visions for Public Schools. Dongshu earned her PhD in Economics and Education from Columbia University in 2009. She is a Fellow of Chung Chi College, CUHK and has twice received the CUHK Faculty of Education Exemplary Teaching Award (2021-22; 2023-24).

CV:PDF

Research Interests:

Economics of Education, Education Policy, Migration and Education.

Contact:

Ho Tim Building 418
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
E-mail: dongshu at cuhk dot edu dot hk

Papers and Reports:

• Ou, Dongshu. 2025. "Transformation and Challenges of Higher Education in Hong Kong: An Analysis from the Perspectives of Efficiency, Equity, and Regional Integration.", 153-180, in A. Y. H. Fung, Y.-y. Hong, & V. Zheng (Eds.), Advocacy and analysis: Public policy proceedings commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. (in Chinese, book chapter)
• Wang, Zitong and Dongshu Ou. 2024. "Returns to Women's Education within Marriage: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design Study in China." Review of Economics of the Household. Full text.Working Paper Version
• Ou, Dongshu and Zhong Zhao. 2022. "Higher Education Expansion in China, 1999-2003: Impact on Graduate Employability." China & World Economy, 30(2),117-141.Full text.(Earlier version circulated under the title "Higher Education Expansion and Labor Market Outcomes for Young College Graduates." IZA Working Paper No. 9643, 2016)
• Cathles, Alison, Dongshu Ou, Simone Sasso, Mary Setrana and Tom van Veen. 2021. "Where Do You Come from, Where Do You Go? Assessing Skills Gaps and Labour Market Outcomes for Young Adults with Different Immigration Backgrounds." International Journal of Educational Development, 86. Full text. Working Paper Version
• Ou, Dongshu and Yuna Hou. 2019. "Bigger Pie, Bigger Slice? The Impact of Higher Education Expansion on Educational Opportunity in China." Research in Higher Education, 60,358 391. Full text
• Ou, Dongshu. 2016. "The Universal Provision of Primary Education: Who Benefits?" Education Economics, 24(5),511-535. Full text (*Outstanding Paper Award for Hong Kong Studies Annual Conference 2016/2017)
• Ou, Dongshu and Suet-ling Pong. 2016. "Does Education Expansion Increase Educational Homogamy?" Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies Occasional Paper No. 233.
• Ou, Dongshu. 2015. "Immigrants and Earnings Inequality Across Gender: Evidence from Hong Kong." Journal of Asian Public Policy, 8(3)(lead article),245-275. Full text
• Post, David, Suet-ling Pong and Dongshu Ou. 2015. "One Country Two Peoples? Trends in the Assimilation and Separation of Hong Kong's Mainland-born Population." Asian Population Studies, 11(1),67-93. Full text
• Pong, Suet-ling, David Post,Dongshu Ou and Maggie S.Y. Fok. 2014. "Blurring Boundaries? Immigration and Exogamous Marriages in Hong Kong." Population and Development Review, 40(4),629-652. Full text
• Ou, Dongshu. 2013. "Education for All: Quasi-experimental Estimates of the Impacts of Compulsory Primary Education in Hong Kong." Asia Pacific Education Review, 14(3)(lead article),267-283. Full text
• Ou, Dongshu and Ayako Kondo. 2013. "In Search of a Better Life: The Occupational Attainment of Rural and Urban Migrants in China." Chinese Sociological Review, 46(1),25-59. Full text
• Ou, Dongshu and Suet-ling Pong. 2013. "Human Capital and the Economic Assimilation of Recent Immigrants in Hong Kong." Journal of International Migration and Integration,14(4),689-710. Full text
• Ou, Dongshu. 2011. "The Impact of the Test-based Accountability System: An Analysis on the High School Exit Exams in the US.",135-150, in Bingqin Li (ed.), European and American Welfare System: Challenges, Reforms and Constraints. Social Science Press.(in Chinese, book chapter)
• Machin, Steve, Sandra McNally and Dongshu Ou. 2010. "The Children's Workforce: A Data Scoping Study. A Report for the Department of Children, School and Family (DCSF)" Centre for the Economics of Education CEESP02. Full text
• Ou, Dongshu. 2010. "To Leave or Not to Leave? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of the Impact of Failing the High School Exit Exam." Economics of Education Review,29(2)(lead article),171-186. Full text. Policy Brief.
• Yeh, Christine J., Yuki Okubo, Winnie Ma, Mun-yi Shea, Angela B. Kim, Dongshu Ou and Stephanie T. Pituc. 2008. "Chinese Immigrant High School Students' Cultural Interactions, Acculturation, Family Obligations, Language Use, and Social Support." Adolescence, 43(172), 775-790.
• Levin, Henry M., Dong Wook Jeong & Dongshu Ou. 2006. "What is a World Class University?" Peking University Education Review,4(4):101-129 (In Chinese). Working Paper Version

PhD Supervision: