Green degrees, unequal futures? How sustainability in higher education curricula impacts graduate outcomes in Italian regions

This research examines the evolving landscape of academic curricula, focusing from a territorial perspective on changing graduate labour market outcomes in the wake of the introduction of the so-called ‘green curricula’ in the Italian higher education (HE) system. As the promotion of ‘green skills’ and the creation of ‘green jobs’ gain momentum in the sustainability debates at both the European and international level, we analyse how the expansion of green curricula affects local labour market outcomes for graduates and contributes to inequality. To address existing research gaps, we utilise data from the AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, and the Italian Labour Force Survey. We conduct a panel fixed effects analysis to assess the impact of environmentally focused HE programmes on various local labour market outcomes among graduates, also controlling for potential spatial effects. Our findings highlight the role of sustainability-oriented degrees in shaping local labour market conditions and, consequently, in influencing inequality in outcomes (which we label ‘green bias’) among graduates. By contributing to the broader discourse on unequal graduate outcomes, our research offers insights into the implications of incorporating environmental sustainability into HE programmes. Focusing on the Italian context, we provide new evidence on the potential unintended social consequences of sustainability-oriented educational policies in the context of a just transition.