Moving from North to North: how are the students’ university flows?

Abstract

Student mobility has been much commented upon and much studied. Student mobility has social, economic, and political consequences. This form of mobility is relevant, in Italy, in terms of south-north flows, while the mobility of northern students toward the South and Centre of Italy is negligible. To the best of our knowledge, a proper focus on the dynamics among northern regions has not yet been carried out. This study focuses on the interregional mobility of northern first-year students. To this end, we use a longitudinal dataset with students’ individual histories from 2008 to 2017, obtained from the cohort-based datasets collected using the Italian Ministry of University’s administrative databases. Descriptive and model-based analyses are employed for assessing the association between the propensity to move and individual characteristics, as well as some territorial variables. A longitudinal study is also considered. Here, we see an increase in the population entering the university system and mobility flows across northern regions. The results show that students’ educational experiences influence the propensity to move. However, the most relevant driver of the phenomenon is the attractiveness of areas with a higher supply of university courses and a better economic context.

Students’ university mobility patterns in Europe: an introduction

“…Do top-rated private university attract students from northern regions? (Rizzi et al, 2021). How are the flows of the three-step path high school/BA/MA?…”

A new measure for the attitude to mobility of Italian students and graduates: a topological data analysis approach

“…In most of the mobility studies, health disciplinary area is excluded, because of the peculiar national rules of admission to medical schools, alternatively as in Rizzi et al. ( 2021 ) the medical field of study is chosen as reference category of comparison because of its geographical homogeneity and its low propensity to mobility. ; As previously observed, students which live in the South or in the Islands tend to have a higher mobility attitude especially with respect to the fellows from the Center and the North of the Italy.…”

“…In most of the mobility studies, health disciplinary area is excluded, because of the peculiar national rules of admission to medical schools, alternatively as in Rizzi et al. ( 2021 ) the medical field of study is chosen as reference category of comparison because of its geographical homogeneity and its low propensity to mobility. ;…”

“…Rizzi et al. ( 2021 ) propose an intermediate category “half mover” for identifying who moves in neighbouring regions. Ballarino and Panichella ( 2021 ) extend this definition including variables such as type of episode rural–urban (from rural to urban, from rural to rural, from urban to urban and from urban to rural), distance and time, but in the models they still use the classical definition of stayers and mover.…”

The high school effect on students’ mobility choices

“…Moreover, several studies document that an important share of variability in students' mobility choices is ascribable to divergences in contextual factors and the socioeconomic contexts between the geographical areas of origin and destination (D'Agostino et al 2019b;Giambona et al 2017). Santelli et al (2022) highlight that students attending a liceo in the main cities in Campania have a higher propensity to be attracted by the reputation of the universities; moreover, other studies confirm the higher propensity to select non-local universities for students attending schools with the highest profiles in terms of socioeconomic conditions of students' families, namely classical and scientific high schools (Rizzi et al 2021).…”