On the footsteps of parents? Migration experience and aspirations of university students in Moldova.

This article investigates the impact of parental migration on the migration aspirations of university students in Moldova. Through 24 semi-structured in-depth interviews with university students, the article aims to answer the questions of what shapes the migration aspirations of young students and whether and to what extent their parents’ migration experience impacts this process. The findings show that young Moldovan students are mainly pushed to emigrate by very low living standards, economic and political uncertainty and pulled abroad by better job offers and higher incomes. Highly skilled positions and short-term stays abroad were preferred, corresponding more to the new economics of labour migration concept than the neoclassical economics model. The study results question the validity of the cumulative causation theory, as there was only a mixed indication that parents’ former migratory experience strengthens their child’s pro-migration aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]