Country report

1. STEM education

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education has gained increasing attention in Italy in recent years, and the government is devoting significant resources to improving its reach with EU funds. As part of its national RRP, EUR 2.1 bn are being invested in the provision of digital devices or the creation of digital laboratories in 100 000 classrooms in primary and secondary schools. In addition, the National Programme School and skills 2021-2027 (ESF+/ERDF) invests EUR 150 million in professional laboratories in secondary schools of the regions of the south. In 2023, new guidelines designed to strengthen STEM education at all school levels were issued. These encourage schools to move away from the prevailing theory-oriented teaching methods by adopting more experience-based methods that are closer to the experimental approach of STEM disciplines. The guidelines envisage an interdisciplinary approach, overcoming the traditional structure of the Italian curriculum, which tends to treat STEM disciplines as separate subjects. To help achieve this, the Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM) has launched a digital platform for sharing effective teaching practices. It features a training catalogue of over 120 000 courses, a network of 28 training centres, and 50 STE(A)M poles that focus on enhancing STE(A)M education through digital tools. Over 800 000 educators, school leaders and support staff have participated so far – a number expected to grow.

STEM participation in vocational education and training (VET) is relatively high. In Italy, 44.4% of students in medium-level VET in 2023 were enrolled in STEM fields. This exceeds the EU average of 36.3% and is close to the proposed EU 2030 target of 45%. However, only 19.1% of these learners were female, which, while above the EU average of 15.4%, still falls short of the proposed EU 2030 target of 25%. Italy is aligning vocational training with labour market needs in technological fields. The RRP-funded New Skills-Transitions plan (March 2024) seeks to reduce skill mismatches by better linking VET training with labour market demands. It supports work-based learning and micro-credentials, and involves the private sector in designing and delivering training. The Reform of Technical and Professional Institutes adopted under the RRP focuses on adapting technical and vocational education to Industry 4.0 and support digital innovation, including by strengthening links between secondary and tertiary technical education with the ITS Academies. 

The share of tertiary STEM students is below the EU average, notably in information and communication technologies (ICT). The share of tertiary students enrolled in STEM is stable, at 25% in 2023 (25.4% in 2017), below both the EU average of 26.9% and the proposed EU target of 32% by 2030. With an overall share of 36.9%, female enrolment in STEM is somewhat nearer the proposed EU target of 40%. At 8.8%, the share of STEM students enrolled in ICT is the lowest in the EU (average 20.3%). Women make up just 15.7% of ICT enrolments (EU 20.3%). Among those who graduated from tertiary education in 2023, 22.4% obtained a STEM qualification, compared to 25.2% in the EU. The share of female graduates in STEM fields (41%) is above the EU average (33.5%). Overall, the share of STEM graduates per 1 000 of population aged 20-29 was 18.5 per 1 000 compared to the EU average of 23 per 1 000. Italy is experiencing labour shortages in sectors such as construction, manufacturing and ICT, with high demand for STEM professionals and technicians (Camussi et al., 2024).

Pervasive gender stereotypes impact educational and career choices and may discourage girls from engaging with STEM subjects, further limiting the pool of available talent. Italy stands out due to a large and growing gender gap in mathematics, in favour of boys, across education levels. This gap cannot be explained solely in terms of ability, and is likely to stem from a mix of contextual- and institutional-level factors. Overall, girls are less likely than boys to enrol in maths-intensive tracks – such as scientific academic high schools or technical institutes – which are most strongly linked to STEM enrolment in higher education (Evagorou et al., 2024). Even among top performers in science or mathematics, boys are twice as likely as girls to expect to work in science or engineering when they are 30, while the opposite is true for the health professions. This suggests that Italy’s gender gap in ‘hard’ sciences starts well before higher education and is rooted in gendered choices made before the end of lower secondary school (grade 8). Since upper secondary school tracks significantly shape future academic and career trajectories (see Section 5), policies aiming to close the gender gap and nurture girls’ interest in science and technology should target earlier educational stages (Granato, 2023).

2. Early childhood education and care

Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) continues to grow but is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2023, 93.5% of children between the age of three and the starting age of compulsory primary education were enrolled in ECEC, as compared to an EU average of 94.8%. Participation in ECEC has increased by 2.5 percentage points (pps) since 2021, but it remains below 2019 levels.

The proportion of children below the age of three in formal childcare is growing steadily. In 2024, the proportion of children aged 0-2 enrolled in formal childcare reached 39.4%, up 4.9 pps compared to 2023. The rate is in line with the EU average of 39.2% and approaching the national Barcelona target of 41.7% by 2030. This rapid rise can be partly attributed to a combination of government policies to support families and low birthrates narrowing the gap between the demand and supply of childcare places. It is also partly driven by changes in the internal composition of the demand, as there is evidence that women with a migrant background are more likely to use daycare services for their children than native-born women are (Mussino & Ortensi, 2023). Under the RRP, more than 150,000 places for early childhood education and care are expected to become available thanks to an investment worth EUR 3.2 bn. Under the Medium-Term Fiscal-Structural Plan, Italy has set an ambitious goal to ensure coverage of running costs for the newly created places financed under the RRP, while making fees more affordable.

Access to ECEC is strongly dependent on place of residence. There are large disparities in childcare provision between the north and the south, and between large urban and smaller peripheral municipalities. According to national data, the levels of coverage (childcare places per 100 resident children) range from over 40% in Umbria, Emilia Romagna, and Valle d’Aosta to less than 12% in Campania and Calabria. These differences reflect both the socio-economic divide between north and south, and the structural differences between these areas (Argentin et al., 2017) in terms of, for example, participation of women in the labour market.

Participation in formal childcare varies considerably by socio-economic background. Participation rates for children aged 0-2 increase with household income and parents’ education level and employment status (ISTAT, 2023). At the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, only 18% of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) are enrolled in formal childcare as opposed to 46% of children in the non-AROPE group. This reduces the capacity of ECEC to compensate for disadvantages.

Strong disparities exist in the public resources allocated to childcare, both at local and central levels. Overall spending by municipalities on early childhood educational services benefiting an average child under three years old ranges from EUR 1 520 in central Italy to EUR 282 in the south. Residents in the most disadvantaged areas, which have a higher concentration of families in situations of poverty, therefore benefit from fewer public resources from local administrations. The government is tackling regional imbalances in participation and service provision. According to recent estimates, based on the state of work advancement observed, all regions (except Campania and Sicily) should reach the coverage target of 33% by 2026 (UPB, 2025).

3. School education and basic skills

Early school leaving continues to fall, but large gaps remain between regions, population groups and genders. In 2024, the proportion of early leavers from education and training (ELET) among 18-24-year-olds fell to 9.8% (EU: 9.3%), compared to 15% in 2014. This puts Italy well on track to achieve the EU’s ELET target of less than 9% by 2030. However, a look at the data by areas shows ELET rates of above 10% in the south (11.3%) and islands (15%) while the remaining macro-areas have already reached and exceeded the EU target. The rate for foreign-born people also fell compared to 2023, from 25.5% to 21.3%, edging closer to the EU average (19.5%). However, it remains much higher than the rate for people born in Italy (8.7%), particularly for those born outside the EU (23.4% vs 20% EU average). In terms of gender gap, an improvement in the early school leaving rate for women (0.5 pps) has widened an already large gap in their favour (5.1 pps against the EU average of 3.2 pps).

With early school leaving on a clear downwards trend, the focus is increasingly shifting to improving basic skills, particularly in the south. The Council of the European Union adopted a country-specific recommendation for Italy under the 2025 European Semester to ‘improve educational outcomes, with a focus on disadvantaged students, including by strengthening basic skills’ (Council of the EU, 2025). Italy’s deep geographical divide in competence acquisition is one of the main obstacles to equity in education. In line with the RRP, the MIM has launched Agenda Sud, an initiative to improve basic skills and reduce educational disparities in southern regions, where a significant proportion of students fall below minimum competence thresholds. Agenda Sud also aims to combat early school leaving starting from primary education, promoting equal opportunities across the country. Implemented over the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years and partially funded by RRP resources, the plan focuses on literacy (distinguishing between Italian for native and non-native speakers), numeracy, and English language skills. Primary schools could apply to participate in the second year by February 2025. Secondary schools, already funded in the first year, were also eligible to reapply. Approximately 2 000 schools participated, including 245 identified as ‘critical’ by the national institute for the evaluation of education, Invalsi, based on student performance data. These schools were eligible for additional support, such as extra teaching staff, extended school hours and external experts. Currently, there is no formal evaluation framework for assessing the effectiveness of the initiative. The only available monitoring refers to descriptive statistics from the first year of primary school applications, including participation rates, geographical distribution and targeted competencies.

Italian students demonstrate strong civic competencies. In the IEA ICCS 2022 study, Italian eighth-graders scored above the EU average (523 points vs 511), with girls significantly outperforming boys. Notably, 83% of Italian students agreed that democracy remains the best form of government, compared to the international average of 74%. They also expressed more positive attitudes toward gender equality and equal rights for all groups (INVALSI, 2023). Students and teachers showed closely aligned views on civic priorities.

Pupils’ digital skills are rapidly improving. In the 2023 International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS), the performance of Italy’s eighth-graders improved by 30 points compared to 2018 (Caponera & Di Chiacchio, 2024) – the largest increase amongst participating countries (INVALSI, 2023). The share of underachieving students fell by 17 pps but remains above both the EU average (46% vs EU 43%) and the EU-level target of less than 15% by 2030.

The government has introduced a mechanism to evaluate school leaders. From the 2024/2025 school year, school leaders will undergo periodic evaluations to assess their professional competencies. The outcome will be linked to performance-based compensation. Introducing the new system concludes a process that began almost a decade ago as part of the 2015 school reform. The delays in implementing it reflect the need to develop a widely shared evaluation system among all stakeholders. Its completion signals a renewed commitment to professional accountability and may influence broader adoption of evaluation practices among teachers.

4. Vocational education and training

Major measures have been implemented in recent years, but additional efforts could make VET more attractive and further align programmes with labour market needs. The share of pupils in medium-level education attending programmes with a vocational orientation (51.3% in 2023) has steadily decreased over the last decade (-7.8 pps from 2013). In Italy, few recent VET graduates have experienced work-based learning (24.7% in 2024, compared to an EU average of 65.2%). The employment rate of recent VET graduates has been increasing in line with general employment trends but, at 63.7% in 2024, is among the lowest in the EU (average 80.0%). The 2023 Labour Decree promotes alignment with labour market needs by introducing cross-skilling and guidance pathways, enabling young people to acquire skills that are in demand. It also improves transparency and access to certification by validating non-formal and informal skills, boosting professional growth and employability. Through the RRP, Italy reformed the VET system in 2022, with the aim of increasing private sector involvement in VET education. Law Decree n. 127 of 9 September 2025 exemplifies the will of the Italian Government to give value to work-based learning, now called “School-Work Training”, strengthening the tie between schools and the world of work.

Italy is strengthening its VET system through reforms and digital tools. In 2024, Italy made progress on implementing its National Qualifications Framework (NQF), updated in 2022 to improve transparency and coordination across lifelong learning systems (Cedefop & ReferNet, 2025). Italy also started to develop a digital platform under the ToNQFit Erasmus project to support referencing procedures, and build a qualifications register, linked to Europass. A new decree clarified responsibilities in the national certification system and promoted the validation of skills acquired outside formal education. In parallel, the SIISL platform was launched, offering tailored services for job searching, training and skills development.

5. Tertiary education

Although the share of tertiary graduates increased steadily over the last decade, Italy continues to trail behind the rest of the EU. In 2024, 31.6% of people aged 25-34 had a tertiary educational qualification – up from 24.2% in 2014. Despite this significant improvement, Italy still has one of lowest rates of tertiary educational attainment (TEA) and the gap with the EU remains wide (Figure 2). Women are more likely to hold a tertiary qualification than men (38.5% vs 25%). The TEA rate is particularly low among foreign-born people, whether born in the EU (16.4%) or outside (14.1%). This reflects ongoing difficulties in including them in the education system, and in attracting highly qualified people from abroad.

Italy’s upper secondary tracking system strongly influences post-secondary transitions. Over 70% of students from general secondary schools (licei) enrol in higher education, compared to less than 15% from vocational tracks. Inequality in higher education enrolment and completion is pronounced, with a 77% enrolment gap between students from university-educated families and those whose parents have at most a secondary education (Unicredit Foundation, 2025). Dropout rates during tertiary education further widen the divide. Research suggests that this disparity is only partly due to financial constraints and more deeply rooted in the lack of cultural capital in socio-economically more disadvantaged families. As such, current policies focused on increasing scholarships may not be sufficient to improve higher education access and completion.

There are plans to reform the access, evaluation and recruitment procedures for university research and teaching staff. The proposal departs from the current national scientific qualification (ASN) system, criticised for functioning as a de facto right to tenure and generating unrealistic expectations among candidates. The new model introduces a centralised IT platform managed by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), allowing candidates to self-certify their eligibility based on scientific productivity. Staff recruitment will be delegated to the universities. The reform seeks to address an excessive number of people qualifying, inefficiencies in strategic hiring and duplicative evaluation procedures. It also aims to promote academic mobility and reduce institutional insularity.

Access to medical degrees is being liberalised. From the 2025/26 academic year, admission to the first year of university courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary sciences is no longer conditional on passing a national admission test, and the number of places is no longer fixed in advance. The actual selection is postponed to the second semester, where a limited number of students will be admitted based on the academic results obtained in the first semester. The intake will be based on the national health system’s staffing requirements. The reform aims to replace a low-selection test with in-house university training lasting a semester in chemistry, physics and biology, followed by a selection process. This approach aims to ensure not only openness, but also equal opportunities for students aspiring to pursue a medical degree.

Poor employment prospects lead a growing number of university graduates to move abroad. The employment rate of recent (one to three years) tertiary graduates continued to grow in 2024 but remains among the lowest in the EU at 77.8% (EU 86.7%). According to national data, between 2014 and 2023, over one million Italians moved abroad, including 367 000 aged 25-34. Of these, nearly 146 000 (39.7%) held tertiary degrees. In contrast, only 113 000 young people returned to Italy over the same period, including just over 49 000 graduates, resulting in a net loss of 97 000 highly qualified young adults. In 2023 alone, 21 000 graduates aged between 25 and 34 moved abroad, 21.2% more than the previous year. The share of tertiary graduates among young expatriates has grown from around one third in 2014 to just over 50% in 2023, attesting to a structural change taking place. These developments come as Italy faces the most severe demographic decline in Europe, with the working age population (15-64) set to shrink by almost 6 million by 2050.

6. Adult skills and learning

Participation in adult learning has decreased. At the same time, the gap between the participation rate of low-skilled adults and highly skilled adults has widened: 10.3% versus 60.2%. Italy – along with Malta – is the European country with the highest disparity between low-skilled and highly skilled adults. The Council of the European Union adopted a country-specific recommendation for Italy to ‘continue promoting post-secondary VET and in-work training in high-demand sectors to address short-term skills needs, while strengthening adult learning by expanding work-based learning in high-growth sectors’ (Council of the EU, 2025).

Recent policy responses carry on the main initiatives introduced during the pandemic. Efforts continue to achieve the active labour market policy objectives implemented through the reform that introduced the employability guarantee for workers (GOL), which is expected to train 800 000 workers, and the training and job support (SFL) allowance. The New Skills Fund was refinanced for the third time, covering part of the wages, social security contributions and training expenses of workers in training. Reforms are being implemented mostly in the framework of the RRP. The latest reform is the New Skills-Transitions plan, adopted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, which fosters labour market analysis and forecast, with a focus on green and digital skills.

Italy should have at least 6 million new adult learners by 2030 to comply with EU targets. To achieve this goal, public strategies must shift from funding some learning opportunities towards encouraging investment in learning by businesses and individuals. This could be achieved by introducing measures that increase the quality and effectiveness of adult learning opportunities, strengthen fiscal incentives and enhance support for the individual right to learn.