Exploring determinants and trend ofSTEM students internal mobility. Someevidence from Italy

Abstract

In the last years, there is a widespread consensus that Science, Technology,Engineering and Math (STEM) education is crucial for long-term productivityand growth of a country. In this light, the paper aims to explore thephenomenon of mobility of Italian STEM students, namely the ows of graduatedstudents from the Southern regions who enrol in the universities ofNorthern/Central area and choose a STEM degree course. We exploit themicrodata of Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR)referring to 8 cohorts (from a.y. 2008/2009 to a.y. 2015/16) of enrolled studentsin STEM elds residing in the south of Italy. The main results of ouranalysis show that the ow of STEM movers increases from year to year.This ow particularly aects the top performing students and, therefore, itis a threat to the socio-economic growth prospects of the Southern regionswhose gap with respect to the Central and Northern regions is expected togrow year by year.