A study period abroad helps to shorten time

A shortcut on the long road to economic independence that not all young people can take, however. We could define this way the study experiences abroad carried out during the university course, starting from the Erasmus+ programme. This is stated in the latest report on the Graduates' Profile published by the AlmaLaurea Consortium: "All things being equal, those who have spent a period of study abroad (recognised by their course of study or carried out on their own initiative) are 7.9% more likely to be employed, one year after obtaining their degree, than those who have not gained any kind of experience outside national borders".

Too bad not everyone can afford it. Just look at the findings in the same document. Meanwhile, we discover that the trend to go abroad during studies is still below pre-Covid levels. Taking the last ten years, we discover that it increased until 2020, reaching 11.3% of graduates, only to decline significantly - due to the pandemic - in the following two years (when it fell to 8.5% and 8.3% respectively). Except that it started to rise again in 2023 when there was an upturn in such experiences (+2 percentage points compared to 2022), reaching 10.3% of graduates in 2024.

Leaving the most are the boys and girls of the majors. While 7.8% of Bachelor graduates in 2024 were involved in study abroad experiences recognised by their degree course, for second-level students this figure rises to 13.2% (which becomes 18.4% if we include another 5.2% who did not take part in programmes in the two-year course, but had done so during their three-year degree). Mobility is also high (14.8%) for those with a single-cycle degree.

The spread of international exchanges also seems to depend on the discipline area. Among 2024 Bachelor graduates, recognised study abroad experiences are particularly widespread in the language (22.9%), political-social and communication (14.1%) and economics (11.7%) groups. For single-cycle master's degrees, the leading groups are architecture and civil engineering (19.1%), law (17.1%) and medicine and pharmaceuticals (16.4%). For two-year master's degree courses, graduates from the linguistic field prevail (23.1%), followed by the industrial and information engineering (18.1%) and economics (16.2%) groups.

In sketching an identikit of graduates who move more across borders, exogenous variables should not be overlooked. See the territorial origin, with universities in the North continuing to record higher participation in mobility programmes (12.3%, rising to 13.5% for the North-East) compared to 9.1% in the Centre and 7.9% in the South. Or the socio-cultural and economic conditions of the family of origin. Among graduates with parents who are both graduates, participation in study abroad experiences is 16.3%, while among those with parents who are not graduates, it drops to 7%.