After the conspicuous drop up to the 2013/14 academic year, from 2014/15 there was a resumption of enrollments which reached + 11.2% in 2018/19 compared to 2013/14. Despite this, from 2003/04 to 2018/19 universities have lost over 37 thousand freshmen, with a contraction of 11.2%. The drop in registrations is more pronounced in the southern areas (-23.6%), among technical and professional graduates and among those who come from less favored family backgrounds. It emerges from the Almalaurea Report.
The average graduation age for graduates in 2019 is 25.8 years: 24.6 years for first level graduates, 27.1 for single-cycle master's degrees and 27.3 years for two-year master's degree graduates. A figure that also takes into account the delay in enrolling in the university course (this is the delay with respect to the "canonical" ages of 19 years, for the first level and single cycle degree, and 22 years, for the master's degree biennial), which among 2019 graduates averages 1.4 years. This is what emerges from the XII AlmaLaurea Report presented today. The graduation age has decreased appreciably compared to the pre-reform situation and continues to decrease in recent years: the average age was in fact 27.1 years in 2009, more than a year higher than the current situation. The regularity in studies, which measures the ability to complete the degree course within the time frame provided for by the regulations, has seen a marked improvement in recent years. If 39.2% of graduates completed their studies in 2009, in 2019 the percentage reached 55.7%, in particular 61.0% among two-year master's degrees, 56.1% among first level graduates and 43.5% of single-cycle master's degrees. Furthermore, if 15.8 graduates out of 100 graduated ten years ago to complete their studies with four or more years off course, today they have almost halved (8.1%). The Report records significant differences with reference to the geographical distribution of the university: on equal terms, compared to those who graduate in the North, those who obtain their qualification in the Center employ 12.5% more and those who graduate in the South or in the Islands 19.8% more. The average degree mark is substantially unchanged in recent years (103.1 out of 110 in 2019, same value observed in 2009): 100.1 for first level graduates, 105.3 for single-cycle master's degrees and 107.9 for two-year master courses. Among the two-year master's degree graduates, the final grade is very high, in particular due to an incremental effect compared to the performance obtained at the end of the first level course (in 2019 the average increase in the graduate degree mark compared to the first level degree is 7.7 points out of 110)
The share of graduates with foreign citizenship is 3.7% in 2019; graduates from the Republic of San Marino are excluded. This share is growing: according to AlmaLaurea data it was 2.7% in 2009. It emerges from the XII AlmaLaurea Report presented today, Minister of Education Gaetano Manfredi present. They are increasingly young people who come from immigrant families and residents in Italy: as many as 42% of graduates of non-Italian citizenship have obtained the secondary school diploma in our country: this share was 28.2% in the 2011. On the other hand, the percentage of foreign citizens holding a diploma abroad is 2.1% of the entire population investigated, a percentage that has been almost stable in recent years. The value rises to 4.3% among the two-year master's and stands at 1.5% among the single-cycle master's and 1.2% among the first-level ones. As for the origin, while in the complex of foreign citizens, including graduates in Italy, more than half come from Europe (in particular from Romania and Albania, respectively 11.4 and 10.8%), in the group the percentage of foreign graduates who graduated from abroad goes down (36.6%) and the most represented state is China, with 13.0%. Foreign graduates who graduated abroad are directed towards specific disciplines, such as architecture (4%) and engineering (3.2%); on the other hand, in three disciplinary groups (teaching, legal and physical education), foreign graduates with a diploma obtained abroad are less than 1%.
In 2019, the employment rate of graduates was 74.1% of first level graduates and 71.7% of second level graduates, one year after graduation, with values increasing compared to the past . The comparison with the previous surveys, in fact, shows a tendential improvement in the employment rate which, compared to 2014 (the year that represented the turning point), increased by 8.4 percentage points for first level graduates and 6 , 5 points for second level graduates. This is what is highlighted in the AlmaLaurea Report illustrated today, according to which these are positive signs which, however, are still not able to bridge the significant decrease in the employment rate observable between 2008 and 2014 (-16.3 percentage points for the former; -15.1 points for the latter). The net monthly salary one year from the title is in 2019, on average, equal to 1,210 euros for first level graduates and 1,285 euros for second level graduates. Compared to the 2014 survey, real wages (i.e. taking into account the changed purchasing power) one year after graduation have increased: + 16.7% for first level graduates, + 18.4% for second level ones. The increase noted, however, is still not able to bridge the significant wage loss recorded in the most difficult period of the economic crisis that hit recent graduates, that is between 2008 and 2014 (-28.7% for the first level, -21.2% for the second level). Last year, one year after obtaining the qualification, the most widespread form of contract is non-standard work, mainly on fixed-term contracts, which concerns over a third of the employed. More than half of the employed, at one year, consider the degree "very effective or effective" for the performance of their work