What Drives the Choice of University Major? The Role of Gender, Immigration Status, and COVID-19

This thesis explores how gender, immigrant background and the Covid-19 pandemic are related to students’ choices of field of study at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). This thesis aims to investigate who enters math intensive PSEE which includes physical sciences, technology, mathematics, engineering, economics and business economics fields, and how this relates to inequalities in educational opportunities. The thesis asks to what extent does gender differences shape the probability of choosing PSEE rather than other fields and how far high-school background and prior performance help to explain these gaps. Also, we look at how the immigrant status of a student is associated with the field choice after controlling for gender and prior education, and if the cohorts enrolling after Covid-19 display different patterns of area of study choice. Methodologically, the thesis combines detailed descriptive analysis of trends and group differences with a multinomial logit model in which the chosen area of study (PSEE, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities) is regressed on main variables like gender, immigrant status, high-school variables, and indicators for pre- and post-Covid enrolment. The results show that gender remains a powerful and persistent driver of area of study choice as women are less likely to enter PSEE and more likely to choose the other fields, especially Humanities. The students with immigrant background are moderately more concentrated in PSEE and less represented in Life Sciences and Humanities, and these may suggest strategic responses to perceived labor market opportunities. We also see that the Covid-19 pandemic was a turning point where overall enrolments fell after 2020 and there was a slight but systematic shift away from PSEE towards Life Sciences and Humanities among those who still enroll. Taken together, these findings underscore the resilience of horizontal gender segregation, the central role of preparation accumulated before university and the sensitivity of educational choices to major external shocks. They point to the need for policies that support girls’ access to math-intensive tracks in high school, strengthen guidance and bridging support for students from non-scientific backgrounds, and pay particular attention to immigrant students and post-Covid cohorts when designing interventions to promote more equitable participation across university fields.