Educational Migration from Arctic Regions of Russia That Do Not Have Independent Universities

One of the main reasons for young people to change their place of residence is the desire to get higher education. In the Arctic zone, where there is a lack of or insufficient level of development of the network of higher education organizations, young people are forced to leave for other regions. The relevance of the study is also conditioned by the fact that educational migration is often irrevocable, which strengthens negative migration processes. The study of educational migration with the help of traditional statistical sources is possible at the regional level, but does not reveal the spatial characteristics of migration processes at the level of municipalities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to approbate the methodology of studying migration from municipalities on the example of regions where there are no independent higher education institutions. The object of the study is the Arctic regions: Nenets, Chukotka, Yamalo-Nemets Autonomous okrugs. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the use of new data sources and the application of the method of big data analysis to study migration processes at the municipal level. The database for the study was formed on the basis of the results of uploading data from the digital footprint of users of the social network “VKontakte”. The study regions included 15,186 users, the vast majority of whom indicated receiving higher education in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Based on the obtained data, the trajectories of educational migration at the municipal level were identified, the coefficients of concentration and uniformity of migration flow were calculated, and a typology of municipalities in the Arctic regions of Russia was carried out. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the results obtained to adjust migration policy in the Arctic regions, including at the municipal level.