LOYALTY E ATTRATTIVITÀ DELLE LAUREE MAGISTRALI. IL CASO DELL’UNIVERSITÀ DI PAVIA

Abstract - The aim of this contribution isto report on the main results on the attractive-ness of the Master’s degree programmes at theUniversity of Pavia.The analyses conducted show manystrengths and numerous areas of attractivenessin the university’s postgraduate academic offer.Some degree programmes are consideredpeaks of excellence, such as the Master’s de-gree programmes in Digital communicationand in Experimental and applied biology,which both rank third nationally in terms ofnumber of students enrolled. Flow analysis indicates that failure toenrol in Master’s degree programmes by UNIPVgraduates is often counterbalanced by the num-ber of incoming students from other universi-ties and that actual drop-outs are documentedonly in few courses. The orientation events were very effectivefor internal graduate students, as 3 out of 4enrol in postgraduate programmes. Some stu-dents do not participate in the events becausethey have already decided to further pursuetheir academic career within the same univer-sity. Despite the positive factors listed above,the analysis has brought to light some criticalareas, which require the identification andadoption of ad hoc strategies. The orientationevents are effective for one out of 4 incomingstudents from other universities, suggestingthat there is still ground for improvement in en-gaging these students. Furthermore, Master’sdegree programmes with declining enrolmentrates are often in strong competition withMilan. In particular, the Engineering pro-grammes compete with the Polytechnic Uni-versities in Milan and Turin. The use of data-driven approaches is in-creasingly necessary to monitor and identifycritical and success factors linked to theprogress of university students.