Health professions in crisis of appeal: stagnating demand for access to universities

Overall, it is confirmed again this year that compared to the increase in the number of courses offered by the universities, there is no similar increase in the number of applicants.

Each university has activated an average of 10 degree courses; the university with the highest number of courses is still Milan Statale with 22, followed by Rome Sapienza 21, Rome Tor Vergata and Padua 19, Genoa 18, Turin, Bari and Naples Federico II with 17. Then there are other universities: Pisa with 16 courses and Palermo 15, Verona and Chieti with 14, Pavia, Bologna, Florence, Rome Catholic, Naples Campania, Messina and Catania with 13, Brescia, Parma and Modena with 12, Siena and L'Aquila with 11, and Ferrara, Ancona, Catanzaro and Cagliari with 10.

This is followed with 9 Varese and Trieste, with 8 Enna, with 7 Milano Bicocca, Perugia and Foggia. With 6 Novara and Milan San Raffaele, with 5 Milan Humanitas, Udine, Rome UniCamillus, Salerno and Sassari, with 4 Rome Link and Campobasso; with 3 Rome Campus and with 2 Cosenza; finally, with one Course Trento, Casamassima LUM, Lecce and Naples Parthenope.

Compared to recent years, the percentage ratio in the distribution of places between Bachelor's and Combined Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes is decreasing, with 68.4 per cent of places going to the Health Professions, whereas it is increasing from 27.7 per cent to 28.4 for Medicine and Surgery, and Dentistry is stable at 3.2 per cent.

The increase of 1,281 posts, +3.6% over last year's 35,592, affected almost all of the 23 professions, with the exception of Health Care Assistant from 611 last year to 502 with -17.8% due to suspension in 3 universities, and 4 other professions, but with smaller values, including Nurse with -26 from 20,435 to 20,409 (-0.1%)

The largest increase in places, in absolute values, concerns Physiotherapist +440 from 2,822 to 3,262 (+15.6%), Osteopath +355 from 70 to 425 (+507%) due to an increase in Universities from 2 to 7. Radiology Technician +163 from 1,700 to 1,863 (+9.6%), Speech Therapist +126 from 986 to 1,112 (+12.8%), Laboratory Technician +90 from 1,500 to 1,590 (+6.0%), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician +63 from 525 to 588 (+12%). Cardiovascular Physiopathology Technician +56 from 236 to 292 (+23.7%), Dietitian +33 from 590 to 623 (+5.6%), Midwife +21 from 1,240 to 1261 (+1.7%), Neurophysiopathology Technician +16 from 190 to 206 (+8.4%) and Educator P. +16 from 828 to 844 (+1.9%), Orthoptist +14 from 341 to 355 (+4.1%), Paediatric Nurse +11 from 279 to 290 (+3.9%), Dental Hygienist +9 from 913 to 922 (+1.0%) and Podiatrist +2 from 117 to 119 (+1.7%).

Consulting the data on the website www.almaLaurea.it shows that for the 170,663 Bachelor graduates in the year 2023 for all 16 subject areas, there is an average increase in the share of employed persons of +6.1 percentage points from 38.5 per cent of Bachelor graduates in 2022 to the current 44.6 per cent.

In particular, for the 16,977 first-level graduates of the 22 health professions in the year 2023, it was noted that, compared to the 11,456 graduates who responded to the survey (67%), there was a significant increase in the proportion of employed graduates (9,710), equal to +8 percentage points, having risen to 84.8% compared to 76.8% last year, when there was instead a decline of -1.7 percentage points from the 78.5% recorded among graduates in the previous year 2021.

In light of these results, it is once again confirmed that the health professions rank first among the various discipline groups. In addition, the increase recorded shows the trend towards the values recorded 17 years ago: in 2007 it was 87.0% to which 84.8% corresponds today, a difference of just -2 percentage points.

The employment level values are on the rise compared to last year for all four areas of the health professions, which overall is +8 percentage points: from 76.8% in 2022 to 84.8% in 2023. In detail for the Nursing and Midwifery area the increase is +7.4 percentage points, from 77.7% to 85.1%; even higher for the Rehabilitation professions with +9.3 percentage points, from 77.1% in 2022 to 86.4% in 2023. Similar increases concern the Technical area with +8.1 percentage points, from 73.9% to 82.0%, and the Prevention area with +9 percentage points, from 72.6% in 2022 to 81.6% in 2023.

Analysing in detail the 22 health professions on the latest AlmaLaurea data for graduates of the year 2023, the following occupational profiles are in the top 5 places and above the average of 84.8%: Neuro and Psychomotricity Therapist from 81.1% last year to 89.6%, Speech Therapist from 76.9% to 88.1%, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician from 74.7% to 87.8%, Podiatrist from 66.7% to 87.5%, Physiotherapist from 80.5% to 87.4%. Neurophysiopathology Technician from 81.0% to 87.5, Paediatric Nurse from 73.5% to 86.7%, Dental Hygienist from 80.7% to 86.4% and Nurse from 77.8% to 85.5%. They are followed by below the average of 85%, which was 77%, Educator P. 84%, with 83% Occupational Therapist, Radiology Technician Laboratory Technician, with 82% Health Care Assistant, Prevention Technician 81%, Obstetrician, Orthoptist, Hearing Aid Technician and Orthopaedic Technician 79%, and finally Dietitian 71%, Cardiovascular Physiotherapist 68% and Audiometric Technician with 63%.

As a result, the Health Professions area continues to maintain stable employment levels in first place, albeit with fluctuations over the years.

The average D/P ratio among the 23 Courses is 1.7, down from 1.8 last year and 1.9 in 2023. The decrease affects all but 3 Courses. As a ranking, almost all the positions of previous years are confirmed: in first place Physiotherapist with a D/P ratio of 6.4; in second place Speech Therapist with 4.5; in third place Midwife 3.3; then Dietitian 2.8; Radiology Technician 2.5; Dental Hygienist 2.1. They are followed by Neuro and Psychomotricity Therapist with 2.0; Paediatric Nurse 1.5; Osteopath 1.4; Neurophysiopathology Technician and Podiatrist 1.2; Laboratory Technician 1.1; Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician 1.0. Below the D/P ratio of 1: Nurse and Orthoptist 0.9; Prevention Technician 0.8; Cardiocirculatory Physiopathology Technician 0.7; P. Educator 0.6; Audiometry Technician 0.5 then with 0.4 Orthopaedic Technician; Hearing Aid Technician, Occupational Therapist and Health Care Assistant.

However, it should be noted that subsequently the coverage of places may increase both through the rankings derived from second and third choice course applications, and from the use of residual places at other universities, as per MUR Decree no. 586 of 6 August 2025, art. 6. paragraph. 6.

Also new for the first time this year for the 41 State Universities, as per MUR Decree no. 418 of 30 May 2025, articles 7 and 8, is the possibility of using the open semester rankings on the 3 single-cycle degree courses in Medicine and Surgery, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine by the 23,527 candidates (out of a total of 64,285) who opted for one of the "Related Courses" of the 12 Health Professions as their second choice, within the limits of 20% more than the number of places on the list.

The 23,527 options on the 12 Related Courses are predominantly for Nurses with 13,400, followed by Cardio Pulmonary Physiopathology Technician with 3,085, Neurophysiology Technician with 2,852, Orthoptist with 963, Prevention Technician 899, Orthopaedic Technician 816, Health Care Assistant 366, Podiatrist 351, P. Educator 316, Occupational Therapist 287, Hearing Aid Technician 110 and Hearing Aid Technician with 82.

For the fifth consecutive year, as of 2021, the Ministry of Universities is putting all the places of the training potential offered by the universities up for grabs, with a total of 36,873; a number that is lower than the total of 43,738 of the requirement established by the State-Regions Conference Agreement of 30 July 2025.

The shortage is -6,865 posts, or -15.7%, with Nursing accounting for -5,880 posts, or -22.4%, compared to the 26,289 posts required. The detailed analysis for each of the Professions reveals 2 different situations:

- Lower offer for 11 professions, with 8.462 posts from the universities lower than required: Professional Educator (-62%), Occupational Therapist (-52%), Podiatrist (-49%), Hearing Aid Technician (-48%), Health Care Assistant (-43%), Hearing Aid Technician (-31%) and Nurse (-22%), followed by Orthopaedic Technician (-18%), Neuro and Developmental Psychomotricity Therapist (-15%), Orthoptist (-5.5%), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Technician (-4.5%) and finally Midwife (-3.7%).

- Higher offers for 11 professions: with 1,597 posts from universities exceeding requirements: Dietitian with +57% among universities with 623 posts compared to the 397 in requirements, Neurophysiopathology Technician with +38%, universities 206 and requirements 149, Radiology Technician +29%, universities 1.863 and need 1,445, followed by others with percentage values of less than +20%, such as Speech Therapist +19%, Dental Hygienist +14%, Physiotherapist +10% and finally Laboratory Technician (+1.7%) with 1,590 posts compared to need 1,563.

As in previous years, it is hoped that the definition of the requirements for the coming year 2026-27 by the Ministry of Health and the State-Regions Conference will be made by 30 April, as provided for by Legislative Decree 502 of 1992. This is to give the universities time to review the determination of the places to be put up for tender, reshaping and rebalancing some of the shortages with respect to some of the redundancies in the training offer. Moreover, to be able to publish the calls for applications within 60 days before the entrance examination, as was established by Article 4, paragraph 1, of Law 264 of 1999.

* Secretary of the National Conference Degree Courses in Health Professions** Lecturers in the Degree Course in Neurophysiopathology Techniques at the University of Bologna