Social origin, geographical inequalities and international student mobility: the Italian case

Purpose This article aims to apply the theoretical framework of Inequality of Educational Opportunities (IEO) to the participation in international mobility programmes such as Erasmus (International Credit Mobility – ICM) of Italian university students. In particular, we aim to verify if the probability of experiencing ICM is associated with the students’ social class of origin, on one side, and with certain geographical dimensions of inequality – namely, macro-area of residence before university enrolment, macro-area of university attended, previous experience of internal mobility – on the other. Design/methodology/approach The analytical strategy of this article is based on the assumption of the intergenerational transmission of social inequalities as defined by the Origin-Education-Destination (OED) triangle proposed by Blau and Duncan (1967). To answer our research questions and verify our hypotheses, we run a set of logit models using a wide representative dataset of Italian graduates, where the dependent variable is the participation in international mobility programmes during university. Findings Our analysis clearly shows that participation in international mobility programmes during university is positively associated with the students’ social class of origin. Moreover, the results highlight a significant impact of all the dimensions of geographical inequality considered on the probability of experiencing ICM. Lastly, the disadvantage related to social origin and those associated to geographical dimensions appear to accumulate. Originality/value Differently to the traditional approach to ICM, this article introduces an original dimension of IEO by showing that geographical location—both of residence and study—can play a relevant role in shaping students’ opportunities to participate in international mobility programmes.