29/09/2008 | Masters and PhD, Europe
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Seeking talent - The growing postgraduate sector in Italy

By: Ann Graham

Mauro Battocchi is head of the desk for trade and investment promotion at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A Bocconi University and Princeton graduate, Mauro has held diplomatic assignments at the Italian Embassies in Bonn and Tel-Aviv. He talks to Ann Graham about the postgraduate education sector in Italy.

Opportunities abound, says Mauro Battocchi, as he talks about his country’s talent investment scheme. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Invest your Talent in Italy” scheme has a unique value proposition for international students: the Italian government provides the bests candidates with a package of scholarships to attend first-class engineering, management and design courses taught in English at the country’s top universities. “It gives them access to corporate Italy through internships and match-making events,” Battocchi says.

Introducing talent to industry

Other countries offer financial incentives for international postgraduate students, but Italy – the seventh largest economy in the world with a wide manufacturing system and a growing number of internationalized businesses – goes one step further. “We make a considerable effort to introduce international talent into our industry and commerce,” Battocchi explains. “Each course includes a three to six month period of on-the-job training allowing students to gain hands-on familiarity with the Italian business culture.” Many companies are ready to offer internships and are willing to recruit the most talented students to their Italian headquarters or branches throughout Asia.

Since its inception in 2006, the “Invest your Talent in Italy” scheme has seen an amazing response from international students, Italian universities and companies alike. “Our universities have experienced the benefits of marketing their courses as “Italy” and not as single units,” Battocchi says. “This has made a real difference in their ability to attract applicants, particularly for those universities that, in spite of academic excellence, do not yet have a global reputation.” It has also prompted other universities to provide courses in English and facilities to make life easier for international guests.

Battocchi continues: “In Italy there’s increasing awareness that we need to attract the best talents for our companies and territories to thrive in the long term. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development have brought together a large coalition of governmental bodies, chambers of commerce and corporate sponsors to promote Italy as a brand for excellent higher education. In particular, Italy’s Foreign Trade Institute (ICE) and the Union of Italy’s Chambers of Commerce (Unioncamere), which provide the bulk of the program scholarships.” 

The value of internationalization

Companies are reaping the benefits of participating in this innovative scheme. The number of Italian firms with permanent branches in foreign markets more than doubled between 2004 and 2007 and this has made them hungry for professionals that can sustain this. “Italian companies want direct access to highly qualified human resources, which can be instrumental in their own international expansion,” Battocchi says.

There are growing trends in Italy’s higher education sector. In recent years it has become much more international and people see the value of this. The number of mobility programs, joint research programs (also at PhD level), integrated curricula, joint or double degree programs, and courses taught in English have grown considerably. 

An increasing percentage of students are also graduating with a Masters of Science (MSc). Battocchi expects to see this trend progress further in the next few years. Another change to Italy’s higher education sector, which is now seeing results, is the 3+2 model. Approved in 1999, the reform, which saw the typical university degree combination of a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Science (MSc) split in two, became operational during the 2001/2002 academic year. And from the opinions Battocchi is gathering from Italy’s partner universities, this reform has managed to reduce the high age of graduate students (previously 28 years), and increased the number graduating. “After three years of training, students have a solid background and are ready to choose to either continue with more training or enter the job market. Statistics show that 27.4 per cent of Bachelor of Science graduates enter work, while 63 per cent prefer to continue on for a Masters.”

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