Enhancing university students' retention: the role of faculty members

Francesca Modena (), Giulia Martina Tanzi (), Marco Tonello () and Antonio Veronico ()
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Francesca Modena: Bank of Italy
Giulia Martina Tanzi: Bank of Italy
Marco Tonello: Bank of Italy
Antonio Veronico: Bank of Italy

No 1038, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: This paper examines how the characteristics of the faculty members, mainly in terms of gender and age, affect university students' retention. Using student-level administrative data from the census of Italian university students, we exploit the quasi-random variation in the exposure to female and young professors across cohorts, within the same degree program, department, and university. Students' retention improves when the characteristics of the students match those of faculty members: while younger professors benefit all students, female faculty members have positive effects on female students only.

Keywords: university; student retention; dropout; professors' gender and age (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 I28 J16 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_1038_26

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