B0837
Title: Exploring the role of labor market conditions and university quality on university dropout
Authors: Cristian Usala - University of Cagliari (Italy) [presenting]
Mariano Porcu - University of Cagliari (Italy)
Isabella Sulis - University of Cagliari (Italy)
Abstract: The factors influencing students' dropout risk between their first and second year of university career are investigated. The focus is on students' educational backgrounds, the labour market conditions of their origin and destination areas, and the quality of their chosen university. Administrative data on all students enrolled in Italian universities between 2011 and 2018 are used and integrated with socioeconomic indicators of origin and destination areas from ISTAT and information on university quality from Almalaurea concerning students' employment opportunities and satisfaction. A two-step approach is applied to disentangle the effects of high school, university, and degree program quality from those of unemployment, income, and the number of firms at the municipal level. The first step isolates the effects on students' dropout probabilities related to high school and university background by applying multilevel models. The second step uses the results of the first step to estimate the role played by local socioeconomic conditions on students' performances. Preliminary results indicate high school and university quality are key predictors of student performance and dropout probability. At the same time, labour market conditions have diverse and complex effects depending on the type of dropout and the area considered.
