Mapping of regional supply of education and science programmes
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Higher education systems play a central role in equipping regions with the capabilities needed to navigate the twin transition towards a green and digital economy. This report provides a mapping of the regional supply of education and science programmes across Europe, offering new evidence on how teaching and research activities are distributed spatially and institutionally. As a milestone output for Work Package 3 of the ST4TE project, the report focuses on identifying regional disparities in the provision of higher education skills. Drawing on harmonised data from the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER), OpenAlex, and EUPRO, we analyse student enrolments and graduates by level and discipline, the allocation of EU-funded research projects—including European Research Council (ERC) grants and collaborative projects with industry—and scientific publications. These dimensions are aggregated at the NUTS 2 level to uncover territorial patterns in the capacity of higher education institutions to generate advanced human capital and contribute to knowledge production. The analysis reveals significant spatial asymmetries in both education and research provision, with strong concentrations of doctoral education and frontier research in a small number of regions, alongside more evenly distributed undergraduate and applied research activities.
Authors: Ascanelli, Alessia, Barbieri, Nicolò, Basilico, Stefano, Gilli, Mariana, Marzucchi, Alberto, Rizzo, Ugo
Institutions: University of Ferrara, Gran Sasso Science Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: European Commission
OpenAlex ID: W6930992195
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