Determinants of Inward Mobility of students in Europe with a focus on Italy

This paper discusses the determinants of intra-European and Italian student mobility. We report the results of a statistical analysis based on a panel of 33 European countries for the period 1998-2009. The dependent variable is the inflow of students (ISCED 5-6) from EU-27, EEA and candidate countries. Results show that the expenditure per student appears to be a crucial determinant. It is reasonable to maintain that students are likely to choose countries where the students are granted with adequately funded services and perhaps monetary incentives. Eventually, other significant variables are: a) the actual level of crime; b) the degree of openness of host country; c) the GDP per capita of host country. Applied to Italy, it becomes clear that the country has a potential in international student mobility which is not fully exploited. In fact, Italy is one of the top exporters of education services. Such figures contrast sharply with the low figures on incoming students compared to other European countries. The fact that the main determinant of student mobility turns out to be the average expenditure per student, explains Italy’s poor performance in attracting foreign students