Manoeuvre 2026, from fringe benefits to scholarships: all the news for schools and universities

Up to EUR 140 per year. According to calculations by MIM and the MEF, this could be worth as much to teachers - and, more generally, to school staff with a salary of less than EUR 50,000 per year - as the 15% flat rate on ancillary salaries, provided for in the 2026 manoeuvre with a per capita ceiling of EUR 800, could be for public employees.

A measure that also applies to 'allowances of a fixed and continuous nature': a group in which both the professional teaching remuneration (Rpd) received by professors and the individual accessory remuneration (Cia) received by technical-administrative assistants (Ata) fall.

Although not high, the benefit (together with the intervention on Irpef, also foreseen in the manoeuvre) would make it possible to raise the salaries of a category that boasts the lowest salary levels of all university graduates in the public sector and of most of their colleagues scattered across Europe.

Awaiting the conclusion of the negotiations for the renewal of the 2022-24 National Collective Labour Agreement currently underway at Aran, which could lead to monthly increases from EUR 82 to EUR 186 per month for administrative staff and from EUR 105 to EUR 177 per month for lecturers, plus a redetermination of the fixed allowances to the extent of EUR 204-320 for professors and EUR 88-109 for technical-administrative staff.

Also in the school sector, the manoeuvre includes two much-awaited refinancings in their respective areas: on the one hand, the Its Academies, protagonists of the new and innovative technological-professional training chain, the so-called '4+2' model, which will gain almost 265 million euro for the three-year period, rising from 51 to 100 million euro in 2026, and then falling to 82 in 2027 and 82 in 2028; on the other hand, the parish schools, which will see their endowment rise from just under 800 million euro to 886 million euro from 2026. Clearly net of any corrections that may emerge during the parliamentary examination.

The news was not a foregone conclusion. On the university front, the budget law confirms the ordinary financing fund for state universities at the same level as in 2025, i.e. 9.4 billion.

One novelty concerns scholarships. The manoeuvre allocates 250 million to ensure the essential performance levels for the university education mission. Resources that make it possible, on the one hand, to have a 'structural crutch' for the post-NRP and, on the other hand, to keep the basic level of the State Supplementary Fund (Fis) above 500 million per year.

The cash injection currently contained in the Budget Law helps us to take stock of the scholarship issue. In the academic year 2024/2025, the Ministry of Universities has financed them with a record 880 million from the sum of the FIS and NRP. If we add the regional share, this comes to 1.2 billion, which means 270,000 scholarships provided each year.

For the first time, the regions have found themselves managing resources that are surplus to requirements. For the academic year 2025/ 2026, which has just started, the Mur has already allocated (and distributed at regional level) 557 million of the FIS. To this ceiling will be added another 150 million from the latest reshaping of the NRP agreed with the EU, which means approximately 28,000 additional scholarships compared to those financed with national resources.

It is also noteworthy that the amount of scholarships for out-of-town students has been increased to €7,072.10 in 2025/26, compared to €4,132.85 for commuters and €2,850.26 for in-town students. For students with less financial means, there is a further increase in the amount of the scholarship to €8,133. At the same time, the upper limits of the Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator (Isee) and the Ispe (which measures assets) have also been raised to €27,948.60 (+€221.81) and €60,757.87 (+€482.21) respectively. This is the background to the Budget Law, which avoids a sudden reduction in national resources allocated to the FIS.

If we take into account the 250 million that are added annually from 2026 onwards, in 2026/27 the state portion of the funding will remain at 550 million. The topping-up of funds provided by the manoeuvre currently in Parliament, in fact, serves to continue the strengthening of the national component for the funding of scholarships provided by the 2023 Budget Law for only two years and amounting to 250 million for 2024 and the same amount for 2025. Still on the subject of scholarships, the 35 million allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the attraction of foreign students should be noted. Also in this case from 2026.

La manovra istituisce una nuova iniziativa di promozione culturale destinata ai giovani che conseguono il diploma di maturità. In dettaglio, a decorrere dal 2027 arriva la Carta elettronica denominata “Carta Valore”, destinata ai giovani che, a partire dall’annualità 2026, conseguono il diploma di istruzione secondaria superiore entro il diciannovesimo anno di età. La Carta è assegnata nell’anno successivo al conseguimento del diploma e rappresenta uno strumento per favorire l’accesso alla cultura. Con questa carta (le somme caricate non costituiscono reddito imponibile e ne non rilevano ai fini Isee) si potranno acquistare beni e servizi culturali, quali biglietti per spettacoli teatrali e cinematografici, libri, abbonamenti a quotidiani e periodici anche digitali, musica registrata, strumenti musicali, ingressi a musei, mostre ed eventi culturali, oltre a corsi di musica, teatro, danza o lingua straniera. Sul piatto vengono messi 180 milioni di euro annui a decorrere dal 2027.