Peer Networks and Educational Migration: Experimental Evidence from India

Last registered on November 12, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Peer Networks and Educational Migration: Experimental Evidence from India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016735
Initial registration date
September 22, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 26, 2025, 8:13 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
November 12, 2025, 3:29 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
India
Region
Maharashtra

Primary Investigator

Name
Merve Demirel
Affiliation
Stockholm University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-08-04
End date
2026-09-30
Keywords
Education, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
educational migration, peer networks, college access
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This randomized controlled trial tests whether peer networks can encourage educational migration among prospective university students in India. I sample 2500 high school students (referred to as mentees) from secondary schools across Maharashtra and randomly connect half of the sample with current university students (referred to as mentors) who are educational migrants themselves. The intervention consists of semi-structured conversations conducted over the phone prior to college application deadlines. I measure impacts through surveys with students and parents: one midline survey before entrance exams, and another after college admissions conclude. Outcomes of interest include realized and hypothetical educational migration choices as well as beliefs about costs and benefits of educational migration.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Demirel, Merve. 2025. "Peer Networks and Educational Migration: Experimental Evidence from India." AEA RCT Registry. November 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16735-2.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention connects prospective university students with peer mentors who are educational migrants in Pune and Mumbai, through a program called "Campus Trail".

Peer mentors are recruited among applicants who are current university students in Pune and Mumbai. Majority are educational migrants themselves. Selected mentors attend mandatory training sessions and develop destination-specific curriculum covering practical aspects of educational migration (applications, housing, logistics) and personal dimensions (managing social connections, addressing safety concerns), meant to provide guidance based on mentors' lived experiences.

Mentees are recruited through in-person visits to high schools in Maharashtra where the mentorship program is presented. Interested students apply during these school visits are randomly assigned to either: (1) Control group receiving no intervention, or (2) Treatment group with access to peer networks throughout the academic year.

I match peer pairs by gender and field of study to maximize relevance of the relationship. The intervention requires a total of 3 hours of one-on-one phone conversations between each mentor-mentee pair, spread across as many sessions as they prefer throughout the academic year. Scheduling is flexible and determined by the pairs themselves. Mentors are encouraged to tailor the conversations to individual needs and preferences of the mentees.
Intervention Start Date
2025-09-23
Intervention End Date
2026-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Primary outcomes includes students' educational migration choices:

1) Realized educational migration choices (index)
2) Hypothetical educational migration choices (index)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Index of realized educational migration choices:
* Indicator equal to one if student migrates out of district
* Indicator equal to one if student is enrolled in college
* Indicator equal to one if student migrates out of district for education
* Indicator equal to one if student has applied to college
* Indicator equal to one if student has applied to college out of district
* Indicator equal to one if student has applied to scholarship or loan to finance their education

Index of hypothetical educational migration choices
* Likelihood of applying to colleges in out of district destinations
* WTP to stay within district (as measured by a conjoint experiment)
* WTP to stay within district (as measured by IRR exercise)
* Indicator equal to one if student plans to look for colleges in out of district destinations
* Subjective rating of out-of-district destinations

I will rely on inverse-covariance weighted Anderson indices to construct the primary outcomes. I will measure and analyze hypothetical choice outcomes for parents and students. I will (1) adjust for multiple hypothesis testing and (2) conduct a joint hypothesis test for the primary outcomes. In addition, I will test for heterogeneity with respect to gender, academic stream and baseline networks.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary outcomes capture mechanisms shaping choices as described in primary outcomes, and fall into three groups: (i) beliefs about expected costs and benefits associated with different choices, (ii) constraints that limit the feasible choice set, and (iii) individual-specific traits that govern how students process costs and benefits.

Expected costs and benefits:
* Pecuniary outcomes (expected living costs and wages upon graduation)
* Non-pecuniary outcomes (expected happiness, safety, mental wellbeing, social ties, parental approval, freedom, effort and societal costs of moving)

Constraints:
* Efforts (search and study)
* Information (general information regarding college admissions and destination-specific information)

Traits:
* Gender norms index
* Generalized self-efficacy index
* Aspirations index

In addition, I will analyze (1) college quality, as defined by cutoff scores, placement packages and rates of colleges (depending on data availability); and (2) content of conversations between mentor-mentee pairs.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Students are randomly allocated to equally sized treatment and control groups, conditional on strata formed by grouping students in the same school and academic stream together.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
2500 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1250 students control, 1250 students treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The DAI Research & Advisory Services Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2025-04-23
IRB Approval Number
PN-MH-01/2025-2026
IRB Name
Etikprövningsmyndigheten
IRB Approval Date
2025-07-01
IRB Approval Number
2025-04262-01
Analysis Plan

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