The number of Italian graduates is worrying when compared with the European average.
According to Eurostat, today only 31.2% of young Italians aged 25/29 have a degree compared to other European countries whose number exceeds 50%.
The gap with the rest of Europe is even more evident when it comes to STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) where the average of graduates in Italy is 6.7%, compared to the European 12-13%.
Closing the gap is also important because the market requires 1.3 million ITS graduates and diploma holders by 2027, but is faced with a lack of 8,700 specialized profiles per year.
A scenario further aggravated by the circulation of talent, considering that the migration balance of 25-34 year old graduates for our country appears constantly and strongly negative.
A gap between training and work which risks increasing the lack of specific skills and calls for a concrete response from the educational system and the Italian corporate fabric.
And then there's the gender gap.
According to the latest analysis by McKinsey, even if the number of women graduates exceeds that of men,
only one in three graduates in STEM subjects is female, more precisely 38%
.
And women hold just 22% of all tech jobs in European companies.
According to the Stem Observatory of the Deloitte Foundation, the demand for technical-scientific profiles throughout Europe is growing but graduates in these disciplines are still few.
Only 26% in countries such as Spain, Malta, Greece, UK, France and Germany.
A percentage that drops to 24.5% in Italy and, even more, among women: only 15% have chosen to study these subjects, reports the second report from the Stem Observatory of the Deloitte Foundation.
In fact, limited to the STEM sector in Italy, more than four out of ten companies have difficulty finding candidates with scientific training.
At current rates, the share of women working in tech professions in Europe is set to reach 21% by 2027, according to McKinsey.
A gap further aggravated by the gender pay gap:
women, on average, with the same career and skills, are paid less than men.
To raise awareness on this issue, the United Nations is celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in STEM disciplines on 11 February for equal access to scientific careers, in the name of inclusion to dismantle the stereotypes around this topic.
The training path in Europe, from primary school to entry into the world of work, has fundamental junctions in which female talents tend to disperse.
Notably, a significant decline in the percentage of women in STEM courses occurs at two points in time: during the transition from K-12 to college, when the percentage drops by 18 percentage points, and during the transition from college to the force work, when it drops another 15 points.
Part of this phenomenon is linked to the lack of an orientation service in Italy that supports not only women but actually all students.
The iliadship initiative, also through the voice of CNC Media, a community with over one million readers, is a long-term project that aims to support university students in their educational and professional growth, through the awarding of scholarships and of a mentorship program.
For the next ten years, the goal is to provide 10 scholarships each year for master's degree courses in STEM, Social Sciences and Arts & Literature subjects worth 15,000 euros each, and to accompany each student with a tutor and a mentor with the opportunity to carry out an extra-curricular internship.
Applications open from April 2024.
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