Spatial analysis of junior high school students commuting in Taiwan

Although students commute is common in Taiwan, few people discuss this issue. So this study uses the spatial perspective to analysis the spatial distribution of student commuting as well as discuss the factor of students commuting and spatial difference. The data source are both census of 2000 and educational statistics of Ministry of education. The research tools include Geographic Information System, regression and Spatial econometric model, etc.
There are two major conclusions in this study. First, the study indicates that there is a regional inequality of educational opportunities in Taiwan which relates to the distribution of population. And student commuting exists regional difference between urban and rural areas, so does between in-migration and out-migration.
Second, the study shows that educational opportunity is main factor for student commuting. Parents commuting and region development also considerably affect student commuting. In addition, the higher mother’s education level is, the more student commute will be. At end, the study also finds that student neighbor regions make the impact to the student commute. In other words, the factors effecting student commuting include the spatial heterogeneity.