About the PhD project
This PhD project explores how young people in higher education use (im)mobility to and from rural and urban areas as part of their life development strategies and narratives.
In many European countries, the migration of young people to cities is viewed with particular scepticism, as this type of migration has become synonymous with a decline in human capital in rural areas. The concern is that it is often the most resourceful young people who move away in search of a job or higher education. There is also a tendency for universities located in the provinces to have a harder time attracting students than universities in larger cities in both Denmark and the Netherlands. This project sheds light on the underlying youth cultural trends in (im)mobility patterns that can explain - and eventually mitigate - these trends. Previous research shows that for young people, enrolment in higher education is just one of many life choices to be made, and that this choice often has consequences for migration, identity and the young person's social context. In addition, the introduction of the Bachelor/Master system in the context of the Bologna Process and the standardisation of European higher education has significantly increased the possibility of moving region and education before, during and after higher education.
The project is divided into four main parts:
The first part deals with the advantages and disadvantages related to relocation patterns when Bachelor students start their study programmes in Esbjerg and Copenhagen. The project takes a critical look at immobility as "failure to leave" and instead examines the benefits that can arise when a student chooses to study in the city or region they come from.
The second part addresses the social norms that students experience in higher education in relation to mobility and immobility. This part of the project explores how students strategically incorporate narratives of mobility and immobility into their life narrative during higher education in a constant negotiation between place attachment and life development.
The third part investigates how graduates use their life narrative during their higher education programme when choosing where to settle and searching for their first job.
The fourth part investigates how higher education students manage to maintain place attachment and the resulting benefits (in terms of settlement and job opportunities) through digital and social media.
The PhD project is a collaboration between the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the University of Southern Denmark. The project has Groningen city and province, as well as Esbjerg and the Region of Southern Denmark as case areas.
The project was completed in 2021.
Contact person: Eva Mærsk, evm@sam.sdu.dk or e.maersk@rug.nl, phone: +45 53868980
