The geographic divides of the Italian higher education system

This paper analyzes from a comparative perspective the demand and supply of tertiary education in the North and in the South of Italy, and the consequences for the production of human capital. As far as demand is concerned, we describe the local trends in enrollments, and how demographics and mobility affect them. The differentials in students’ outcomes, less favorable for those enrolled in universities in the South, are also discussed, showing that they are attributable largely to differences in entrant students’ educational backgrounds. As far as supply is concerned, we examine the territorial distribution of financial resources; we describe their evolution in light of the gradual introduction of the 2010 reform, which called for new allocation criteria based on the number of students and on research results, in a context of a strong contraction in funding. The composition of university revenues is then examined, showing how the universities in the lagging areas of the South are penalized by the lower contribution capacity of the students. The work concludes with some policy suggestions, related, above all, to the need to raise the funding for universities and, secondarily, to the possibility of introducing corrections to the actual distribution of resources, consistently with the incentives arising from the above-mentioned reform.