Towards Better Measurement of International Mobility's Effects on Academic Performance: Evidence From a Quantile Regression Study in a Spanish University

ABSTRACT In this study, we estimate the effect of international mobility during higher education on the grades obtained in the different subjects taken abroad. To this end, we utilise a large database of over 8000 Spanish students. Our methodological approach ensures unbiased results by reproducing a randomised experiment‐like scenario through the use of an innovative combination of Propensity Score Matching, Generalised Boosting Regression (GBR) and Quantile Regressions techniques. It can be concluded that, although the effects on grades are modest, they are consistently positive, with the greatest impact observed among students at the lower end of the overall grade distribution.