Higher Technical Institutes. This is the name of the alternative path to university that few in Italy know even though it could prove to be a very important driving force for youth employment. Even Prime Minister Mario Draghi got their definition wrong in his settlement speech to the Senate. Among the problems that these institutes have, the name seems to be one of the main ones: around it it only creates confusion and still little interest.
So far in Italy they have been little more than one niche choice, growing slowly and failing to become the practical alternative to university that the government expected when it introduced them in 2008, following the model of the German Fachhochschule and the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (UPS). This is also underlined by the numbers presented in the Senate dossier: there are in Italy only 111 schools, 18.273 students and 713 courses.
What the data doesn't show, however, is how these institutions have made it possible for their graduates to have no problems finding work once their school career is over: 80% of graduates have stable employment after one year and 92% work in an environment consistent with the chosen course of study.
Now, thanks to the 1,5 billion of the Pnrr, the goal of the ITS reform – the bill under discussion in the Senate has already been approved by the Chamber – is to double the number of members by 2026, reaching 40.000, reform the institutes to make them more modern and put them in a position to train those technicians who are increasingly in demand in Italian companies.
The chairman of the Senate Education Committee Riccardo Nencini confirmed the intention to "make them as attractive as possible for students, increasing the quality of the courses by providing a national framework that makes them a stable and alternative course to university."
Just in the Senate is being discussed on new name to assign to institutes. The proposals for now are "ITS Academy" or Academies for higher technical education. The problem is that, as Nencini himself also explained, inserting "academy" in the name of the institutes would be a mistake as the central point of the ITS is to provide not an academic but a practical path, following the principle of "learning by doing" (learning by doing).
However, it remains to be clarified relationship with universities: it will be necessary to establish whether students who have completed the ITS will be able to access a master's degree in a field consistent with the path undertaken or whether they will have to start over once they enter university. The new law, waiting to be approved by the Senate, in fact provides that the ITS diploma becomes comparable to a three-year degree (it would take the name of "Higher Technician Diploma") precisely to avoid all of this.
