Geographies of Participation in Learning Abroad Mobility Among European Youth: A Comparison of Student and Non-student Groups in the EU Member States

Abstract

In recent decades, learning abroad mobility has become a popular movement and has often been considered among students in higher education. However, in the European Union (EU) context, opportunities to learn abroad are also provided for non-student groups of youth. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the role of certain socioeconomic factors concerning participation in learning abroad mobility and to compare their contribution between students and non-student groups of youth in six country groups in the EU. In so doing, a quantitative method was followed by using the data of Flash Eurobarometer 478. Findings of the multinomial logistic regression analyses show that although there is no significant difference between the EU15 and NMS (new member states) regarding young people’s participation in learning abroad mobility, such difference occurs within the NMS. Students are more likely than nonstudents to participate in general. The age of students, being female and living in rural areas among non-students can also hinder participation.

Learning (abroad) mobility in the European Union: A comparison of youth in and out of higher education

“…Therefore, for HE‐related youth, the findings of the current study are similar to the results of the Eurodesk Survey (Frith & Sabuni, 2019). However, such findings are somewhat contradictory to the results of the recent study by Öz (2021), as the respondents living in larger towns (large and middle towns) are more mobile than the respondents living in rural areas in only some Northern EU15 and NMS countries. This study by the Öz (2021) is important for comparison since he uses a similar data source; the Flash Eurobarometer 478 (EC, 2019).…”

“…However, such findings are somewhat contradictory to the results of the recent study by Öz (2021), as the respondents living in larger towns (large and middle towns) are more mobile than the respondents living in rural areas in only some Northern EU15 and NMS countries. This study by the Öz (2021) is important for comparison since he uses a similar data source; the Flash Eurobarometer 478 (EC, 2019). Nevertheless, there are differences in the characteristics of the type of respondents between the Öz's study (2021) and the current study.…”

“…This study by the Öz (2021) is important for comparison since he uses a similar data source; the Flash Eurobarometer 478 (EC, 2019). Nevertheless, there are differences in the characteristics of the type of respondents between the Öz's study (2021) and the current study. In detail, respondents are separated by whether they are current students (youth who are full‐time students) or non‐students (youth who has full or part‐time jobs) in Öz's study (2021), but in the current study HE‐related youth covers not only students but also the graduates of and the young people planning to study in higher education institutions.…”

“…In detail, respondents are separated by whether they are current students (youth who are full‐time students) or non‐students (youth who has full or part‐time jobs) in Öz's study (2021), but in the current study HE‐related youth covers not only students but also the graduates of and the young people planning to study in higher education institutions. So, although the terms HE‐related youth and students, and non‐students and Out‐HE youth look similar, only 17.67% of the respondents consist of Out‐HE youth in the current study, while 70.43% of the respondents consist of the non‐students in Author's study (2021). So, considering the magnitude of participants in different groups, the results could be contradictory.…”

“…However, rural areas have the least share of mobile respondents (11.2%), and the share of non‐mobile respondents is twice as much as the share of mobile respondents in rural areas. However, another study shows that there is not any difference in the contribution of type of community to participation among students in most of the EU member countries, except some Northern EU member states, whereas, among non‐students, respondents living in rural areas are less likely to participate than those living in large towns (Öz, 2021).…”