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University spatial competition for students: the Italian case

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  • Mattia Cattaneo
  • Paolo Malighetti
  • Michele Meoli
  • Stefano Paleari

Abstract

University spatial competition for students: the Italian case. Regional Studies. The ability to attract students has become crucial for the sustainability of universities, especially in Southern Europe, where the decrease of governmental funding has been dramatic following the financial crisis. By using a competing destinations model on the student flows to 75 Italian universities in the period 2003–12, and modelling university competition with respect to different market segmentations, the paper provides evidence that Italian universities operated under competition forces in the last decade. Results hold when controlling for universities’ educational offer, trying different definitions of university attractiveness, excluding private academic institutions and limiting the analysis to non-selective courses.

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  • Mattia Cattaneo & Paolo Malighetti & Michele Meoli & Stefano Paleari, 2017. "University spatial competition for students: the Italian case," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(5), pages 750-764, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:51:y:2017:i:5:p:750-764
    DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2015.1135240
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    2. Valentina Tocchioni & Alessandra Petrucci, 2020. "Italian PhD students at the borders: The relationship between family background and international mobility," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2020_10, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    3. Silvia Sumedrea & Cătălin Ioan Maican & Ioana Bianca Chițu & Eliza Nichifor & Alina Simona Tecău & Radu Constantin Lixăndroiu & Gabriel Brătucu, 2022. "Sustainable Digital Communication in Higher Education—A Checklist for Page Loading Speed Optimisation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Daniele Biancardi & Mabel Sanchez Barrioluengo & Federico Biagi, 2019. "Study on Higher Education Institutions and Local Development," JRC Research Reports JRC117272, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Diogo Lourenço & Carla Sá, 2019. "Spatial competition for students: What does (not) matter?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(1), pages 147-162, August.
    6. Bonacini, Luca, 2020. "Unequal effects of the economic cycle on human capital investment. Evidence from Italian panel data," GLO Discussion Paper Series 733, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Mabel Sanchez-Barrioluengo & Sara Flisi, 2017. "Student Mobility in Tertiary Education: institutional factors and regional attractiveness," JRC Research Reports JRC108895, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Martina Vittorietti & Ornella Giambalvo & Vincenzo Giuseppe Genova & Fabio Aiello, 2023. "A new measure for the attitude to mobility of Italian students and graduates: a topological data analysis approach," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 32(2), pages 509-543, June.
    9. Gabriele Lombardi & Giulio Ghellini, 2019. "Linking University Harshness and Students’ Choices: Sociodemographic Differences based on Italian Universities’ Characteristics," Department of Economics University of Siena 805, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    10. Granato, Silvia, 2023. "Early Influences and the choice of college major: Can policies reduce the gender gap in scientific curricula (STEM)?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 494-521.

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