Does an education experience abroad promote short or long-term international labour mobility?

Purpose This paper examines whether an education experience abroad promotes short-term or long-term international migration intentions. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses individual-level data from the Eurobarometer survey “Intra-EU labour mobility after the pandemic”, which focuses on intentions to migrate among EU citizens. Univariate probit and bivariate probit with sample selection models are estimated. Findings The results suggest that an international education experience makes individuals more likely to have plans to work abroad in the future, but this experience is found to be associated with short-term migration intentions rather than long-term ones. Originality/value While the positive relationship between international education and labour migration is well-known in the literature, this paper advances research in the field by investigating how studying abroad impacts the expected duration of the migration.

DI PIETRO Giorgio; 

2025-07-31

EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD.

JRC142390

0144-3585 (print),   

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/jes-02-2025-0068/full/html,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC142390,   

10.1108/JES-02-2025-0068 (online),