Introduction
The ELA system offers a reliable analysis of the condition of higher education institutions (HEIs) in small cities and towns. We have compared the circumstances of the 2022 master’s graduates who pursued second-cycle and long-cycle programmes at higher education institutions in Poland's largest cities of over 500,000 inhabitants and in other cities with or without powiat rights.
Our study reveals that HEIs located in small cities are highly effective in preparing their graduates for future careers. Not only do those graduates slightly surpass their peers from metropolitan institutions in terms of median salaries earned during the first year following graduation (PLN 5,488.24 for graduates from small cities vs PLN 5,374.81 for those from metropolitan areas), but they also achieve significantly better results when considering the Relative Earnings Rate (0.88 vs 0.76, respectively), which compares the incomes of graduates to the average income in their respective powiats of residence. This implies that graduates from HEIs in small cities are best equipped to respond to the demands of their local labor markets. Graduates from HEIs located in medium-sized cities with powiat rights and populations below 500,000 exhibited the lowest earnings, with a median income of PLN 4,835.33 and a Relative Earnings Rate of 0.74.
The detailed data below offers deeper insights into the success of graduates from HEIs in the smallest cities and towns, as well as the impact of these institutions on local labor markets.
Where did graduates from institutions located in large, medium, and small cities live?
Table 1. Place of residence of the 2022 master’s graduates by HEI location
|
HEI location
Place of residence
|
Cities over 500,000 inhabitants | Other cities with powiat rights | Other cities and towns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cities over 500,000 inhabitants | 36% | 3% | 4% |
| Other cities with powiat rights | 9% | 37% | 9% |
| Other cities and towns | 55% | 60% | 87% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Regardless of the size of the city where their institution was based, the majority of graduates tended to relocate to small cities and towns after they completed their studies. This indicates that the bulk of graduates were absorbed by provincial labour markets. Less than 40% of graduates from the largest cities and other cities with powiat rights continued to live in cities of comparable sizes.
The following section reflects on whether the exceptional effectiveness of graduates from provincial universities observed in the preliminary analysis also applies to various labour markets, considering the size of their place of residence.
The circumstances of graduates across various labour markets
The tables below present incomes of individuals who graduated from cities of various sizes, categorised by labour markets and by the size of their places of residence. To accurately compare salaries across areas with varying pay levels, the Relative Earnings Rate (RER) is used. This metric accounts for the economic context of local labour markets over time, facilitating a comparison of earning efficiency regardless of where one lives. The RER values indicate what part of the local average income was earned by graduates. To better illustrate the results, we provide the median salaries expressed in PLN in addition to the RER median.
Table 2. Median incomes of the 2022 master’s graduates during the first year following graduation by HEI location
|
HEI location
Place of residence
|
Cities over 500,000 inhabitants | Other cities with powiat rights | Other cities and towns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cities over 500,000 inhabitants | 5,681.17 zł | 5,607.36 zł | 7,110.39 zł |
| Other cities with powiat rights | 5,380.00 zł | 4,974.62 zł | 6,225.70 zł |
| Other cities and towns | 5,304.77 zł | 4,822.09 zł | 5,423.24 zł |
Table 3. Relative Earnings Rate medians of the 2022 master’s graduates during the first year following graduation by HEI location
|
HEI location
Place of residence
|
Cities over 500,000 inhabitants | Other cities with powiat rights | Other cities and towns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cities over 500,000 inhabitants | 0.68 | 0.68 | 0.85 |
| Other cities with powiat rights | 0.77 | 0.70 | 0.89 |
| Other cities and towns | 0.84 | 0.79 | 0.89 |
Graduates from HEIs in small cities demonstrate strong performance across all job markets, regardless of the size of their cities of residence. They not only proved to be more effective in facing job market challenges, as evidenced by the highest RER medians (Table 3), but also earned the highest salaries (Table 2).
These findings highlight the crucial role that HEIs in small cities and towns play in shaping local labour markets. Given the context, it is not unexpected that a large number of graduates of master's programmes prefer to reside in small cities.