Universities and economically depressed regions: how strong is the influence of the University of Évora in the regional human capital?

Universities are a source of significant multiplier effects upon local and regional economic activity. In the case of economically depressed regions, the importance of universities is enhanced. This is the case of the University of Évora, located in Alentejo (Portugal), one of the poorest EU regions, where it has been a key element to the dynamics of local economic activity. Apart from a direct impact upon the economic activity of Alentejo, the University of Évora has also been promoting demographic effects, both by encouraging new permanent residents to the area, and also by attracting a fluctuating mass of students which usually become residents during the period of time required to obtain their degrees. In this paper a population of former University of Évora students is analysed with the objective of answering questions related to their connections with the city of Évora, and its surrounding areas, after graduation, and also to analyse their impact upon the regional economic activity and their contribution to the improvement of the regional labour force. The University of Évora is also assessed from the perspective of its relationships with other regional agents, in terms of knowledge and innovation transference. It is concluded that one of the main contributions of the University of Évora to the regional economic activity occurs via the employment of its graduates in local and regional schools, enterprises and other institutions. KEY-WORDS: Human Capital, Regional Development, Universities JEL CLASSIFICATION: O15, O18, R12

Universities and economically depressed regions: how ‘attractive’ is the University of Évora?

As it is well known, universities constitute sources of important multiplier effects on the economic activity of the regions where they are located. Plainly, in the case of economically depressed regions, the importance of universities becomes higher. This is certainly the case with the University of Évora as being located in the Alentejo, one of the poorest regions at the European Union level, it have been contributing to the attraction of economic activity. Besides the direct effect on the economic activity of the Alentejo, the University of Évora also have been exerting demographic effects, on the one hand, by allowing people to become residents on the region and, on the other hand, by attracting students which normally become residents during the period of time required to conclude their academic degrees. The paper explores this last effect by the analysis of how and why the University of Évora is chosen by students coming from all over the country (and from abroad). This analysis, which is done through the use of econometric techniques, also indicates which are the decisive factors for the attraction exerted by the University of Évora, in general, and by its degree courses, in particular, on the candidate students. KEYWORDS: Decision Analysis, Discrete Choice Models, Portugal, Universities JEL CLASSIFICATION: C21, R12, R23

Regional limits in Portugal - an application of cluster analysis

In 1989, Portugal has adopted the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) of the European Union (EU) to promote statistical normalisation in the EU. This classification grouped the portuguese municipalities in three levels: NUTS III (28 units in the Mainland), NUTS II (5 units in the Mainland) and NUTS I (3 units: Mainland, Madeira Islands and Azores Islands). In 2002, the Portuguese government approved a law introducing some modifications to the former nomenclature, namely in the regions of Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo and Alentejo. Further to these modifications, some NUTS III units were moved from Lisboa e Vale do Tejo (new designation is Lisboa) to Centro and Alentejo. In this paper we group territorial units, following the methodology of cluster analysis, making use of official statistics like the population census of 2001. Our goal is to obtain homogenous NUTS II in economic and social terms, therefore challenging the 2002 nomenclature modifications. We select our variables to characterise the territorial units, according to the competitiveness territorial pyramid (Mateus et al., 2000), which classifies the territorial analysis by themes like demography, labour market, workers qualifications, innovation, entrepreneurship, productive specialization and infrastructures to support production.

Universities and economically depressed regions: how strong is the influence of the University of Évora in the regional human capital?

Universities are a source of significant multiplier effects upon local and regional economic activity. In the case of economically depressed regions, the importance of universities is enhanced. This is the case of the University of Évora, located in Alentejo (Portugal), one of the poorest EU regions, where it has been a key element to the dynamics of local economic activity. Apart from a direct impact upon the economic activity of Alentejo, the University of Évora has also been promoting demographic effects, both by encouraging new permanent residents to the area, and also by attracting a fluctuating mass of students which usually become residents during the period of time required to obtain their degrees. In this paper a population of former University of Évora students is analysed with the objective of answering questions related to their connections with the city of Évora, and its surrounding areas, after graduation, and also to analyse their impact upon the regional economic activity and their contribution to the improvement of the regional labour force. The University of Évora is also assessed from the perspective of its relationships with other regional agents, in terms of knowledge and innovation transference. It is concluded that one of the main contributions of the University of Évora to the regional economic activity occurs via the employment of its graduates in local and regional schools, enterprises and other institutions. KEY-WORDS: Human Capital, Regional Development, Universities JEL CLASSIFICATION: O15, O18, R1

Higher Education ‘Market’ in Portugal: a diagnosis

The higher education system in Portugal, in recent decades, experienced profound structural changes, including a substantial increase in the number of higher education institutions, scattered throughout the country, with a growing number of students and teachers. The subject of this study is to examine the characteristics of current supply and demand within the higher education subsystem, in Portugal. The methodological approach includes two steps: first, making a characterization of key variables that shape demand and supply of higher education in Portugal and, second, using spatial econometric analysis, particularly multidimensional scaling, in order to estimate the location of universities.Higher education, Multidimensional scaling, Spatial location.

Regional limits in Portugal - an application of cluster analysis

In 1989, Portugal has adopted the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) of the European Union (EU) to promote statistical normalisation in the EU. This classification grouped the portuguese municipalities in three levels: NUTS III (28 units in the Mainland), NUTS II (5 units in the Mainland) and NUTS I (3 units: Mainland, Madeira Islands and Azores Islands). In 2002, the Portuguese government approved a law introducing some modifications to the former nomenclature, namely in the regions of Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo and Alentejo. Further to these modifications, some NUTS III units were moved from Lisboa e Vale do Tejo (new designation is Lisboa) to Centro and Alentejo. In this paper we group territorial units, following the methodology of cluster analysis, making use of official statistics like the population census of 2001. Our goal is to obtain homogenous NUTS II in economic and social terms, therefore challenging the 2002 nomenclature modifications. We select our variables to characterise the territorial units, according to the competitiveness territorial pyramid (Mateus et al., 2000), which classifies the territorial analysis by themes like demography, labour market, workers qualifications, innovation, entrepreneurship, productive specialization and infrastructures to support production

The Higher Education 'Market' in Portugal: a diagnosis of current situation

During the recent decades the higher education system in Portugal has experienced structural changes, including the substantial increase in the number of higher education institutions, scattered throughout the territory, in parallel with the increasing number of students and teachers. Recently, international organizations that analyze the behavior of the subsystem of higher education, in particular the OECD, pointed to the existence of negative trends, i.e. a shrinking demand for higher education, in addition to excess of supply. As an equilibrium in the ‘market’ of higher education seems to be essential, those features do not appear to be sustainable in the long term. This fact suggests the theme for this study, i.e. to analyze the characteristics of the current supply and demand within the subsystem of higher education in Portugal. As methodology we first make a characterization of key variables that shape the demand and supply of higher education in Portugal and, secondly, use tools of spatial analysis, namely multidimensional scaling, in order to verify how distant are the higher education institutions in Portugal.Higher Education; Multidimensional Scaling; Spatial Location

CLUSTERING OF TERRITORIAL AREAS: A MULTI-CRITERIA DISTRICTING PROBLEM

Endogenous resources, economic profile and socio-economic issues are the criteria that define the development level and the identity features of a territorial unit. The territorial units that organize the country, in political and administrative terms – parishes and counties –, have a hierarquical structure, which initially reflected the organization of productive activities as well as the tradition State organization. The success of development policies addressed to territorial agglomerates depends on its homogeneity and of their territorial units. Facing to this the clustering of territorial areas can be stated as a districting multi-criteria problem. Thus, this paper aims to propose a framework for obtaining homogenous territorial clusters based on a Pareto frontier that includes multicriteria related to the territorial endogenous resources, economic profile and sociocultural features. This framework is developed in two phases. First, the criteria correlated with the development at the territory unit level are determined through statistical and econometric methods. Then, a multi-criteria approach is developed to allocate each territory unit to an agglomerate of territory according to the Pareto frontier established. The framework is applied to the context of a set of parishes and counties of the Alentejo Central region, southern Portugal. Results are presented and discussed in the scope of a regional strategy of development