University choice and the attractiveness of the study area: Insights on the differences amongst degree programmes in Italy based on generalised mixed-effect models

Abstract

We investigate the determinants of students' university choices (where to study and which field) by linking micro-data provided by the Italian National Student Archive (ANS) on a cohort of students enrolled for the first time at the university in a.y. 2017/18 with socioeconomic indicators related to the territorial areas and other information concerning universities, fields of study and degree programmes provided by national surveys on graduated students. The aim of the analysis is to propose a set of indicators of attractiveness of tertiary education institutions that are suitable for making comparisons among fields of study and degree programmes between and within universities. To this end, students' choices to attend bachelor's degree studies outside their region of residence have been modelled within the generalised mixed-effect models framework. We show how the setting of alternative model parametrisations and the adjustment for different sources of heterogeneity in the data enable us to build up measures that are suitable to investigate the characteristics of institutions attractiveness. The results of the analysis enable us to assess and distinguish the roles played by the university, the field of study and other factors that are endogenous to tertiary education institutions in determining the power to attract students from other regions.