University, 87.7% graduate employment rate: from IT to ICT, here’s what to choose

If the University increases the knowledge of young people, enrolling in a degree course and obtaining the academic title continues to represent a ‘pass’ for the world of work. Suffice it to say that in 2020, the annus horribilis of the pandemic, there was an employment rate – including those who carry out paid training and five years after graduation – equal to 88.1% among first level graduates and 87.7 % among second level graduates. Furthermore, the degree also raises the level of the paycheck. According to the Almalaurea 2021 Report, in 2020 the net monthly salary one year after graduation is, on average, equal to 1,270 euros for first level graduates and 1,364 euros for second level graduates, 5 years after graduation the monthly salary net is equal to 1,469 euros for first level graduates and 1,556 euros for second level graduates. “As the level of the qualification held increases, the risk of being trapped in the unemployment area decreases” comment the analysts of Almalaurea, the inter-university consortium that builds a bridge between universities and the world of work and professions. But which faculty to choose? Faced with the digital skills gap in Europe, the European Commission has repeatedly stressed that “the demand for information and communication technology specialists is growing rapidly” and that in the very near future “9 out of 10 jobs will require digital skills “. “At the same time, 169 million Europeans aged 16 to 74 – 44% – lack basic digital skills,” the Commission warned. In addition, digital technologies, indicated Brussels, “are used in many sectors such as agriculture, health, transport, education, retail, automation, energy, maritime transport, logistics. , education and the information and communication technologies industry “. Therefore, from computer science to ICT, to engineering and to all Stem subjects, the choice of the University that guarantees quick access to the world of work is soon outlined. But not only. “Graduates enjoy important employment advantages over upper secondary school graduates during their working life: according to the most recent Istat documentation, in 2020 the employment rate of the 20-64 age group is 78 , 0% among graduates, compared to 65.1% of those in possession of a diploma. Furthermore, the most recent OECD documentation available shows that, in 2018, a graduate earned 37.0% more than a graduated from secondary school “underline the analysts of Almalaurea. Perhaps this is also why the Almalaurea 2021 Report highlights that 66.5% of first level graduates, after obtaining the degree, decide to continue their training by enrolling in a second level course, a share that the consortium has reviewed in increase in the last year. In comparison with the previous surveys of AlmaLaurea, it is necessary to take into account, the analysts of the consortium, “the recent trends in the labor market, strongly influenced by the health emergency from Covid-19 which, starting from the first months of 2020, has invested also our country impacting on the employment opportunities of the majority of graduates “. Compared to what was observed in the previous survey, in fact, in 2020 the employment rate decreased by 4.9 percentage points for first level graduates and by 3.6 points for second level graduates. In terms of employment rate, the pandemic seems to have affected mainly women and the areas of the Center-North. But one of the strategic issues still open in our country, finally, is how to keep our ‘excellent brains’ in Italy. In 2020, the willingness to work abroad is in fact declared by 45.8% of graduates, an increase compared to 2010 when 42% of our graduates wanted to go abroad even if, after a period of increase that lasted up to 2015 – the year in which the percentage exceeded 50% – in the most recent years there has been an appreciable contraction. (by Andreana d’Aquino)