ALMALAUREA CONFERENCE 2009

In this period characterised by manifold systemic crisis both people and those organisation which aim at generating welfare express their vitality by preparing the recovery, by upkeeping the capital and the resources they have and by making innovative investments. For these reasons, universities, companies, families and graduates need to overcome the crisis with the desire to make changes and to compete both at a local level and at an international one.

These issues will be discussed during the AlmaLaurea National Meeting that will take place the University of Bari on Thursday 12th March 2009. A particular emphasis will be laid on the point of view and perspectives of Southern Italy.

There are several important aspects which are examined within the 11th AlmaLaurea Survey on graduates’ employment condition . The general report and the in-depth analysis offer at least six new and very original elements.

Firstly, after the experience of 2006 the survey has been extended. It has included quite the totality of the 150 000 1st and 2nd level degree graduates of 2007, who enrolled in their faculty after the Bologna reform, and of the 70 000 graduates who enrolled in their faculty before the Bologna reform and graduated during the summer graduation session of 2007-2005-2003. The interview has been carried out after one, three and five years from graduation. A particular emphasis should be laid on the survey on the occupational openings for the 2nd level degree graduates. This analysis, which has been carried out for the first time, has involved about 40 000 graduates. It will enable all the universities taking part in AlmaLaurea to obtain in a short time the documents that have been required for universities by the Ministry of Education, University and Research through the decree on the transparency of information (DM 544/2007; DD 61/2008). Since this documentation includes the overall population, data regarding every single degree course will be available. The interviews that have been carried out enabled AlmaLaurea to obtain an important result: they involved about 90% of graduates.

Secondly, an analysis of the occupational openings for PhDs will be presented. Because of the strategy adopted for it, its low costs and the very good results obtained, this experimental analysis has become a prototype which can be adopted by all universities that can be interested in it. Thirdly, the trend of graduates’remuneration and the purchasing power will be analysed with the aim of examining their variation also on a national scale. Moreover, the social conditionings that graduated women experience between work stability and children will be the object of a specific in-depth work.

There are another two analysis in addition to the previously mentioned ones. The first one regards the process of modernisation of Italian companies and their activities in sectors like training, innovation and internationalisation, which are examined on the basis of the perception of the graduates who are working for them.

The second one regards the evaluation of the quality of educational trainings organised for each degree course in terms of variables such as clearness of the objectives, tutor’s role and usefulness for the academic studies. This evaluation is based on the opinion given by the about 60 000 graduates that have been interviewed.

Giving a presentation of a university assessment based on the success that students had on the labour market is one of the most delicate events for the academic system, but also for the country itself. The AlmaLaurea National Meeting gives a significant opportunity for discussion, which becomes even more important with the necessity to take into consideration the Declaration of Bologna, which was signed ten years ago.