ALMALAUREA CONFERENCE 2006

Knowledge of the major aspects and most significant pathways in graduates’ transition to the labour market provides fundamental feedback information not only to the higher education institutions that have trained them, but also to the production system at large, in particular to the sectors of research and public administration. Furthermore, any such survey is all the more useful when it can draw upon reliable and up-to-date information. This year, with the setting up by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research of the Students’ Registry and, at a later date, of the Graduates’ Registry, this survey will become even more important.

Based on the large number of universities and graduates (more than 74,000) involved and on the graduates’ interest and accessibility (86% of the telephone interviews was obtained from graduates one year subsequent to their degree, 81% respectively three years and 76 % five years), and taking into account the time interval under observation (data was obtained from graduates from 2004, 2002 and 2000), the documentation gathered as part of the 8th Study offers a reliable cross-section of the general situation and important insights for further in-depth analysis.

The presentation of the 8th Study on University Graduate Employment Conditions, will also enable to make an inquiry into the accomplishment of the Biagi Reform, the assessment of companies with regard to effectiveness of degrees in humanistic and scientific sectors, the opinion of the business world of the university experience in foreign countries, post-graduate studies efficacy, etc.

For the first time, the Survey will permit to examine the graduate employment conditions and/or study the situation of the first-level degree (almost 10.000, with the 90% respond rate) one year after graduation, thus monitoring the progress of the university reform.

The presentation of the 8th ALMALAUREA Study on the Employment Conditions of Italian University Graduates will also provide an opportunity to outline the objectives of three major international projects in which ALMALAUREA is directly involved. The second European survey of university graduates’ employment conditions in 12 countries 5 years after graduation (REFLEX-Research into Employment and professional FLEXibility), funded by the EU and supported by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, which will be carried out in Italy jointly by ALMALAUREA and Istituto IARD "Franco Brambilla". The GRADUA2 European-Latin American Project (ALFA Programme), involving 10 European universities and an equal number of Latin-American institutes, which is aimed at developing good practices within universities and at monitoring the employment conditions of graduates. The EUROALMALAUREA-NET pilot project, supported by the EU as part of the eTEN Programme, which is aimed at the Europe-wide extension of the graduates’ database to include Eastern European countries.