The Determinants of International Mobility of Students

34 Pages Posted: 26 Jun 2012

See all articles by Michel A. R. Beine

Michel A. R. Beine

University of Luxemburg; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Romain Noel

University of Lille I

Lionel Ragot

University of Lille I

Date Written: June 26, 2012

Abstract

This paper analyzes the determinants of the choice of location of international students. Building on the documented trends in international migration of students, we develop a small theoretical model allowing to identify the various factors associated to the attraction of migrants as well as the costs of moving abroad. Using new data capturing the number of students from a large set of origin countries studying in a set of 13 OECD countries, we assess the importance of the various factors identified in the theory. We find support for a significant network effect in the migration of students, a result so far undocumented in the literature. We also find a significant role for cost factors such as housing prices and for attractiveness variables such as the reported quality of universities. In contrast, we do not find an important role for registration fees.

Keywords: student mobility, network effect, migration costs, higher education policy

JEL Classification: F220, O150

Suggested Citation

Beine, Michel A. R. and Noel, Romain and Ragot, Lionel, The Determinants of International Mobility of Students (June 26, 2012). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 3848, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2092662 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2092662

Michel A. R. Beine (Contact Author)

University of Luxemburg ( email )

L-1511 Luxembourg
Luxembourg

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Romain Noel

University of Lille I ( email )

104, avenue du peuple Belge
Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, 59655
France

Lionel Ragot

University of Lille I ( email )

104, avenue du peuple Belge
Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, 59655
France

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