What are university satellite campuses for? A perspective on their contribution to Italian municipalities and regions

This paper is the first to present a long-term retrospective overview of the impact of Italian university satellite campuses (SCs), since Decree n. 509 of 1999 fostered a massive increase in the number of SCs, even in small municipalities around 10,000 residents. By drawing on a novel panel dataset aggregated at the urban level for the period 2000–20, findings show that SCs increased the number of graduates at the regional level. However, SCs alone have uneven effects on population trends and income at the urban level. They should be periodically reviewed and redesigned to address structural changes and local development.