Zagraniczne migracje absolwentów szkół średnich na przykładzie województwa lubelskiego
International migration outflows among secondary-school graduates: evidence from the Lubelskie Region (Poland)

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to identify and assess the intensity, selectivity, and destinations ofpost-secondary school international migration, which has so far been poorly recognized. The authorsused a unique dataset from five editions of census-type surveys tracking the mobility of secondaryschool graduates in Lublin (Poland), conducted annually between 2016 and 2020, which providedinformation on the international migration patterns of 572 individuals. The article examines the scaleand structure of both student and economic migration.The international migration rate among graduates was 3.4%, with nearly half of migrated individu-als studying at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The migration rate remained relatively stableduring the studied period of 2016–2020, including the pandemic year of 2020. The selectivity ofmigration was assessed using structural indicators and logit models. Higher mobility was confirmedamong women (especially in student migration) and graduates of technical schools (particularly ineconomic migration). The likelihood of student migration was significantly increased by obtainingan International Baccalaureate diploma, and graduates with higher final exam scores also displayeda greater propensity for migration. The determinants of economic migration were found to be differ-ent: the risk of migration was higher for those with lower exam scores or those who did not take (orwere not eligible to take) the exam.The research shows that fields of study chosen by migrants differed from those selected by their peersin Poland. Fields such as business, administration and law, humanities and arts, and natural sciences and mathematics were relatively more popular abroad, whereas engineering, industry, construction,services, education, and agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and veterinary sciences were less popular.The United Kingdom was the most popular destination regarding both student and labor migration;however, its popularity significantly declined over the study period. What is more, the consequencesof Brexit appear to have a much stronger impact on post-secondary migrations than on total per-manent emigrations reported by Statistics Poland (GUS). Considering student migration, young in-dividuals tend to choose HEIs ranked higher in the Shanghai Ranking than top Polish universities,though only a small number of graduates began studies at institutions ranked in the top 100. Boththe decision on fields of study and university selection align with the findings of human capital theoryand sociological theories of migration. Interviews with talented youth provided further insights intothe motives behind their mobility, which included a belief in the superiority of Western educationsystems over the Polish one, a desire for life change, and the wish to experience a different lifestylefrom that in Poland. The level of economic development of their home city or region had little influ-ence on their decisions. Overall, this student migration appears to be primarily driven by pull factorsassociated with the destination area, while push factors specific to the home region play a minimalrole. In the case of economic migration, on the other hand, the situation in the labor market of thehome region appears to play a significant role.

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