Effect of academic field and gender on college-bound migration in Japan

Abstract

This study investigates college-bound migration flow in Japan using national-scale data from 2003 to 2014. The results, through a zero-inflated count data model regression, show the influence of academic field, network, and gender, as well as geographic and socioeconomic determinants, on college-bound migration, wherein such determinants are intertwined. Migration stocks increase the quantity of college-bound migration. Although, as expected, the migration ratios higher for natural sciences and for male students, gender differences were not found in the humanities and science, and female engineering students have a higher tendency to migrate. The total tendency of field effect is similar to the lower selectivity categories and different from the upper categories. Regional differences were also identified in relation to academic field and selectivity: 10 prefectures showed positive net migration (mainly from local to center) in all fields combined while in medicine, there were 28 prefectures in the opposite direction (mainly from center to local). Further, there are more outbound students for selective institutions in the western and metropolitan areas than in northeastern Japan. These results suggest that, to understand college-bound migration, there is a need to account for the intertwined effects of academic fields.