Migration and post-university transition. Why do university graduates not return to their rural home region?

Abstract

This paper addresses migrations taking place during the transition from higher education to the labour market. It analyses the reasons why graduates do not return to their rural home region after university, with a case study in Switzerland. Drawing on the mechanisms identified in the literature on internal migration, I propose to conceptualize migration choice as a combination of four logics: utilitarian (job opportunities), calculating (financial elements), affective (social and love life) and sensitive (residential amenities). The analysis of the motives reported by graduates indicates that migration decisions cannot be reduced to a single dimension (although job opportunities are central), are diverse (even within a homogeneous group) and depend on a variety of constraints.