Educational Migration in Resource-Extracting Regions

Abstract

This article focuses on educational migration as a result of the “school-university” transition in resource-extracting regions. We identify and characterize the structural and subjective factors of such migration. The most important structural factors include opportunities provided by the region, its economic structure, and the labor market. We argue that the flow of educational migration from resource-extracting regions is higher than the national average. This situation is accompanied by a “negative selection” of human capital, i.e., an outflow of graduates with higher educational achievement, usually associated with families with higher socioeconomic status. Resource-extracting regions become not just suppliers of natural and financial resources to the Russian economy, but also suppliers of human capital. Educational migration in Russia has a pronounced “western drift”. An important structural factor in the formation of educational migration flows is the institutional design of the higher education system, which has emerged in Russia as a result of reforms aimed at increasing efficiency. Corresponding institutional innovations (the introduction of the Unified State Examination, new mechanisms for allocating admissions, and university performance evaluation) made university education less accessible in resource-extracting regions. Exceptions include only a few established university centers (Tomsk, Kazan, Samara). We also describe the new migration strategies adopted by households. The “school-university” transition is often considered a “fateful moment”, for which families prepare in advance, and which sometimes involves the relocation of the entire family. Structural factors of educational migration are described in more detail using the case of the Kemerovo region-Kuzbass. The article presents data on the outmigration of top-ranking pupils, enhanced with in-depth interviews with the parents of graduates of one of the top secondary educational institutions of Kuzbass. They reveal that educational migration is a family decision not only because it relies on personal preferences, children’s abilities, and family resources, but also because it is based on long-term family plans associated with relocation. It is shown that such educational migration can have negative long-term consequences as a result of the feedback loop between educational migration and regional development. This prompts specific policy responses at both the federal and regional levels.