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Short-cycle higher education programs last between one and three years and capture approximately 20 percent of the world's higher education enrollment. Although they hold great promise for the skilling, up-skilling, and re-skilling of the workforce in the current world of work, little is known about the contribution they make to students' outcomes, above and beyond student or peer characteristics. This paper estimates the contribution of all short-cycle higher education programs in Colombia. It estimates value-added contributions by program, using unique administrative data on student outcomes and background, as well as program- and institution- level data. For a given outcome, the programs vary greatly in their raw outcomes and in their contribution to student outcomes. Although program-level contributions vary across fields, they vary even more within fields. Regression analysis shows that formal employment and wage contributions are greater for programs that are longer, delivered in a traditional mode, or taught in large cities, selective institutions, or institutions specialized in the field. The paper ends with a word of caution about the use of average program outcomes or contributions to build program rankings, as these vary greatly depending on the metric used.

Adult Outreach --- Higher Education --- Lifelong Learning --- Short-Cycle --- Student Learning --- Tertiary Education --- Value Added Contribution