16 - Italy - Educational/vocational guidance, education/employment links
Non-university tertiary education
It is not possible to provide a single description of the procedures that each school applies to facilitate
the access of its students to the labour market, also because these are not institutionalised in most
cases and depend on the type of profession taught in each institute.
University tertiary education
Guidance in higher education is actually based on 4 fundamental phases:
In the first phase guidance activities are carried out at the level of upper secondary education
leading to the so called pre-enrolment in the University, not compulsory.
In the second phase, when students enrol and begin to attend University, the contribution of
teachers, tutors and older colleagues of the different faculties is fundamental.
In the third phase educational support is provided to progress in the selected branch of study, as
well as in case of change of faculty and training stages.
In the fourth phase vocational guidance is provided to know which are the possible future work
opportunities.
Many initiatives have been taken inside and outside the University to make occupational outlets easier;
the Universities promote the formation of consortiums and agreements with enterprises which provide
grants, stages and apprenticeships, etc. Ministerial Decree 509/1999 provided for the inclusion of
guidance within formative activities that should be foreseen by the teaching regulations of the
universities.
The stage or apprenticeship can be carried out during or after the university studies, combined with the
qualifying State exam for practicing a profession, according to the Law concerning the admittance to
regulated professions (professional bodies and rolls). An apprenticeship or stage can be foreseen in
the teaching regulations of a study course (leading to Diploma universitario, Laurea, or at post-degree
level), can be carried out through international projects, or offered to students and teachers by an
enterprise, with or without a previous agreement between the company and the university, with or
without any academic acknowledgement.
Law no. 196 of 24 June 1997, 'Regulations on the topic of employment promotion', establishes the
general criteria to carry out apprenticeships and stages through its article 18 'Training and guidance
apprenticeships'. In particular, this law lays down what follows: stages must be carried out within
training and guidance projects, and according to agreements between the involved subjects
(universities, associations of employers and employees, public bodies, etc.), the participants to the
apprenticeship must be insured (civil liability and occupational accident); a tutor who has responsibility
for didactics and organisation of the activities must be foreseen; it must be possible to consider the
activities carried out as CFU credits.
Associations of private enterprises and universities draw up framework agreements to regulate
uniformly the stage offer of the various enterprises. Sometimes also local authorities, public bodies and
professional associations agree to the framework agreements. Many universities have instituted an
office dealing with stages for the management of these opportunities and to inform students about
apprenticeships provided by the university courses, stages offered through agreements between
university and enterprise associations and stage offered by individual companies; companies can offer
their stage opportunities directly to students or to university teachers who chose the candidates among
their students.
Beside the offices for the stage management there are also student associations in many universities
dealing with the stage offer. They are mainly international associations which group together students
from certain study areas (economics, engineering, law, medicine, etc.) and act through a network of
local seats. Many graduates' associations aim also at establishing a connection between university
and enterprises and at facilitating the transition from the university to the labour market also through
the stages' promotion.
The new organisation of academic titles introduced according to the reform of 1999 and the
introduction of the three-year laurea (L) and of the laurea specialistica have caused a
reorganisation of the freelance professions and of the requirements for the admission to the State
examination (Presidential Decree 328/2001). The professions concerned are thirteen: agronomists and
forestry graduates, agrotechnicians, architects, social assistants, actuaries, biologists, chemists,
geologists, surveyors, engineers, agriculturalists, industrial experts, psychologists. Registers, managed
by Associations ('Ordini') and Councils ('Collegi'), are divided into two sections, according to the level
of ability and competence gained at the university: section A can be accessed, after passing the State
examination, with a laurea specialistica qualification; section B can be accessed, after passing the
State examination, with a laurea (L). Separate sectors can be created within the sections of the
registers; these sectors are related to specific educational paths corresponding to highly specific
professional activities.
Subsequently, the organisation of professions like ‘professional accountants’ or ‘bookkeepers’ have
been amended and it has been instituted a professional association called ‘Association of professional
accountants and bookkeepers’ which includes professionals of two different associations and registers
(D.Lgs. of 28 June, no. 139).
Also professions in the fields of health and nursing, obstetrics, rehabilitation, , prevention and in the
technical-sanitary field have been regulated according to new provisions which have also instituted the
respective professional associations (Law of 1 February 2006, no. 43).
obtained at the end of the study courses of the same level and belonging to the same
class, have the same legal value as far as the admission to State exams is concerned, and irrespective
of the specific content of the formative CFU credits.
The qualifying State examination is made up of two general written tests, a practical test and an oral
test. A compulsory apprenticeship period can also be foreseen.
Postgraduate level
As for the Doctorate and other types of 3rd cycle studies (leading to Diploma di specializzazione and
Master universitario), questions concerning guidance and transition to active life – are foreseen within the teaching activities of each study course; therefore, they fall
within the responsibility of the teaching structure which manages the respective study courses.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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