Are "green-labelled" HE degrees also socially sustainable? The case of graduates’ employability in Italian provinces

This research examines the changing landscape of academic curricula, with a specific focus on the integration of sustainable development topics into university programs. As the provision of “green skills†and the creation of “green jobs†gain momentum in the sustainability debate at the European and international levels, we aim to analyze unequal labor market (LM) outcomes among graduates resulting from the expansion of green curricula. To address the current gap in research, we use data from the AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, and the Italian Labour Force Survey, conducting a panel fixed effects analysis to evaluate the impact of environmentally focused programs on various graduates' LM outcomes. Our findings shed light on the role of sustainability-oriented higher education in shaping local labor market outcomes and, consequently, inequality among graduates. Our research contributes to the broader discourse on unequal graduate outcomes by offering insights into the consequences of incorporating environmental sustainability into higher education programs. By focusing on the Italian context, we provide new evidence on the potential unintended social consequences of sustainability-oriented higher education policies in the context of a just transition.