Training

Telematic universities, growing market in Italia at over three billion euro

Over the past five years, the number of students enrolled has doubled and now stands at 300,000. According to AteneiOnline, one year after graduation, the employment rate of online graduates (77.4%) is slightly higher than that of traditional universities (74.4%)

by Cristina Casadei

5 April 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The European context: Italia third largest country by market value
The growth of online courses
Labour market

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The employment rate of graduates from telematic universities (77.4%), which, according to data from the AteneiOnline portal one year after graduation, exceeds, albeit slightly, that of traditional universities (74.4%), tells of the graduates' graduation rate progressively overcoming companies' prejudices during selection, also due to the misalignment of supply and demand and the demographic collapse, which make it necessary to widen the pool from which to draw applications as much as possible.

According to AteneiOnline, the orientation portal for telematic universities recognised by the Mur, there are now around 300,000 students enrolled in telematic universities, twice as many as there were five years ago: in the 2019-2020 academic year there were 140,000. For degrees that can be obtained in both telematic and traditional modes, more than one in five students, 21.8%, make the first choice.

The European context: Italia third largest country by market value

According to Matteo Monari, founder of AteneiOnline, the data show a structural change in students' approach to university education: "As has been the case in the rest of Europe for years, in our country too, embarking on an entirely online academic pathway is no longer the exception, but a shared and recognised choice", an option that interests various audiences, "from new graduates to those seeking education with a view to personal and professional growth". The most recent data collected by the portal paint a picture of a fast-growing sector throughout Europe, where the market is worth 57.18 billion dollars and will touch 61.96 billion already in 2026.

In the European scenario, Italia ranks third with a value of more than EUR 3 billion, behind only the United Kingdom (with EUR 10 billion) and Germany (with EUR 3.5 billion), but with some of the most dynamic growth rates.

The growth of online courses

The number of enrolments is also growing because the offer is growing. In the last five years, 40 new degree courses have been launched: among the most popular are motor sciences, a course that one student in two now chooses to attend online, followed by education sciences with 43% and psychology with 36.7%. The incidence of telematic universities is increasing across disciplinary areas.

In recent years, the number of graduates from telematic universities has grown from 11.9% of the national total in 2020 to 24.3% in 2024. In the academic year 2024-2025, more than half of the graduates in exercise science (59.2%) graduated from a telematic university, followed by education sciences with 44.8%, nutrition sciences (42.4) and law (40.1%). Important percentages were also achieved in literature (38%) and psychology (29.8%). From the point of view of time, the percentage of current graduates from telematic universities reaches 80.9%, which is higher than in traditional universities (54.7%). If we take law, the graduation rate of online universities (83%) is almost double that of traditional universities (43%).

The labour market

Looking at the other side of the question, i.e. the consideration of the labour market, one year after graduation, the employment rate of telematics graduates (77.4%) exceeds that of graduates from traditional universities (74.4%), a sign of a progressive overcoming of prejudices in the selection processes. This element is part of a broader context of a strong imbalance between demand and supply of skills: according to the latest data released by Manpowergroup for technical profiles in certain sectors, the difficulty of finding them concerns seven out of ten companies

. If there is one element that characterises Italia it is the high level of talent shortage in the sectors most exposed to technological and organisational change: the talent shortage in the Tech & IT (77%), hospitality and catering (76%), energy and utilities (75%) and industrial (74%) sectors is higher than the national average. The most difficult skills to find are especially those related to digital, especially the application of AI, and those related to industry.

Going back to the AteneiOnline data, the courses with the highest employment rates one year after graduation are economics with 91.4%, exercise science with 81.7%, management engineering with 79.8%, followed by law with 74.1% and psychology with 74.6%.