Shifting University Choice Factors and Applicant Profiles: A Regional Perspective

Academic migration poses a threat to regional higher education systems, negatively affecting local human capital in the long term. This article examines how the factors influencing university-choice decision-making change over time. Siberia and the Russian Far East suffer from an outflow of youth seeking higher education options elsewhere. Interregional academic migration is driven by an uneven distribution of higher education institutions across the country and specific local education policies. Young people leave their home regions to overcome socio-educational inequality by gaining access to higher-quality educational programs and the superior infrastructure of larger universities. Ultimately, they seek better career opportunities to improve their quality of life. These factors depend on both regional specificities and applicants’ performance. The article introduces a diachronic classification of factors underlying the choice of region and university. These factors are grouped by the model of educational migration (horizontal or vertical), patterns of choice, and the academic achievement levels of applicants. Finally, the author proposes a set of recommendations for a university located in an unpopular region on how to revise its promotional strategies based on target applicant profiles. These include expanding geographical outreach and leveraging "soft power" through highly specific applicant profiling, as opposed to targeting broad segments of potential applicants.