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The knowledge impact of new decentralized universities: an empirical study on Italy

Author

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  • Paolo Seri

    (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino "Carlo Bo")

Abstract

The geographical diffusion of universities has been recently incentivized in Europe by the growing relevance attributed to them as a driver of local development and as a source of learning for firms. However, the decision processes about the location of the new universities and the design of their study programs are not informed by any clear scientific guidelines. This paper assesses an aspect of the ?knowledge impact? of such phenomena by measuring the additional human capital produced, absorbed and coherently utilized by the local production systems in which the new universities have been created. Since universities do not track the location of their graduates in a systematic way, an original survey was conducted among all the graduates of twelve new decentralized universities in the Marches region. The analysis demonstrates that the geographical diffusion of new universities within the region produces a very small incremental contribution in terms of the overall production of graduates. We found diverging results concerning the specific cases and tested for the determinants of decentralized universities? effectiveness in terms of their contributions to the local learning processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Seri, 2014. "The knowledge impact of new decentralized universities: an empirical study on Italy," Working Papers 1402, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:urb:wpaper:14_02
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    University; Knowledge impact; Local development.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

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