Modelling students' mobility in Italy: an analysis of the determinants by combining individual and aggregated data

The migratory phenomenon consisting in the enrolment of some students in a University different from the one nearest to their place of origin goes under the name of students’ mobility (SM). This phenomenon can be studied for different territorial aggregations, depending on the aims and the availability of data. In Italy several analyses have been carried out to detect the determinants of such a phenomenon. Two approaches are mostly followed. The former considers the analysis of aggregate data (AD) flows, and it is aimed at detecting the characteristics of the Universities and the territories in which they are situated, the latter analyzes the determinants of SM on the grounds of the students’ characteristics. For the second approach, data of individual students (ISD) are necessary, but the analysis is usually limited at a single University. This paper deals with the study of the determinants of SM among the Italian Universities by combining the two approaches. The analysis is carried out by fitting a multilevel model on a combination of ISD and AD. The main aim is to estimate jointly the parameters at the level of the student, of the University and of the territorial aggregation, in a unique framework.