Socio-Economic Determinants of Inter-State Student Mobility in India: Implications for Higher Education Policy

This article analyzes the socio-economic determinants of student mobility in India and evaluates the factors that hinder and promote higher educational mobility. It is argued that despite the mass expansion of higher education in India in recent times, student mobility is directed towards developed educational regions. India is a unique case because it consists of regions with a high variation in socio-economic development and has local higher education markets with different levels of competition between institutions. This study shows the importance of the socio-economic characteristics in student mobility. Drawing on the assumptions of human capital theory and the literature on international student mobility, we suggest that individual and family factors are important determinants of inter-state mobility for higher education in India. This article concludes by suggesting how this pattern of inter-state student mobility might have impact on recent policy focus on expansion of higher education in India.