The transition from university to work: A multilevel approach to the analysis of the time to obtain the first job

The aim of the paper is to characterize the factors that determine the transition from university to work as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of universities and course programmes with respect to the labour market outcomes of their graduates. The study is focused on the analysis of the time to obtain the first job, taking into account the graduates' characteristics and the effects pertaining to course programmes and universities. For this a three-level discrete time survival model is used, where the logit of the hazard - conditionally on the random effects at course programme and university level - is a linear function of the covariates. The analysis is accomplished by using a large data set from a survey on job opportunities for the 1992 Italian graduates.