Lyceum and university aspirations among migrants and non-migrants in Italy

Scholars have argued that, on average, immigrant students are ‘optimists’ and have higher educational aspirations than non-migrant students after accounting for students' socio-economic background and educational performance. However, ethnic minority groups, which proxy the different origin backgrounds of migrants, may show mixed findings in terms of educational aspirations. This study aims to analyse the lyceum (the most theoretical school in Italy) and university aspirations of migrant-origin students and their Italian counterparts, enrolled respectively in Italian lower (Grade 8: age 13) and upper secondary state schools (Grades 9–11: ages 14–16). The analyses are based on data from the Italian Integration of the Second Generation survey conducted during the 2014/15 school year. Our results show that students having Chinese, Moroccan, Moldovan and other non-European Union Eastern European origins assume the lowest levels of lyceum aspiration after also considering compositional effects. Conversely, the largest proportion of migrants attending school in Grades 9–11 have higher levels of university aspiration compared to non-migrants. When considering the role of migratory generation, lyceum and university aspirations are positively associated with the acculturation process of migrants. Furthermore, we found that high family expectations, social relationships and self-perception benefits of studying have positive associations with both lyceum and university aspirations, especially among migrants.