2021

Measures to start school activities for the school and academic year 2021/2022

On 6 August 2021, the Government has approved the Law-Decree no. 111, which contains the urgent measures to be taken to contrast the Covid-19 pandemic for the school and academic year 2021/2022.

The Decree will be discussed in Parliament and must be approved by 9 October, otherwise its effects, already in force since 7 August, will cease. In case of approval by law, the measures will apply until the end of the Covid- 19 emergency, set at 31 December 2021.

On 10 September the Government has approved the Law-Decree no. 122 that widens the measures of the previous decree.

The measures apply to all institutions of the State and Regional education and training systems.

As for tertiary education the Decrees establish that:

• the didactic activities will be carried out primarily in the presence;
• staff and students must wear a mask;
• all must be at least 1 meter away and access to those with a body temperature above 37.5 ° C is not allowed;
• students as well as teaching and non-teaching staff must have and show the green certification known as 'Green pass', that is the document that certifies either the vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, or the recovery from the infection or the negative response to a swab test;
• the dispositions on the green pass apply to all people who access premises as external visitors.

The Green pass is not mandatory for those who are exempted from the vaccination campaign for certified reasons.

2020

Two new Ministries replace the Ministry of education, university and research

On 9 January 2020, the Government has issued the Decree n. 1 establishing that the Ministry of education and the Ministry of University and Research will replace the former Ministry of education, university and research (Ministero dell’istruzione, dell’università e della ricerca – MIUR).

The Decree is provisionally in force since the 10th of January; however, the Parliament has to approve the text within 60 days in order to make it permanent and transform it into a State law. The final approval of the text is expected by mid-March. The Decree details the functions of the two ministries: the Ministry of education has competences for the ECEC and school/vocational sectors, as well as for the higher technical education. The Ministry of university and research has competences for the higher education area and coordinates the research sector.

The organisation of the new ministries will be detailed in specific regulations. Up to then, the previous departments and offices will remain active

2019

On the 7th of January 2019, the Ministry of education has issued a Ministerial Decree on the self-evaluation, evaluation and accreditation of universities and of university courses.

The Decree applies from the academic year 2019/2020 to all State universities as well as legally recognised private universities, online universities included.

Art. 8 of the Decree introduces the possibility for universities to establish experimental vocational-oriented first-level courses (Bachelor).

According to the new dispositions, universities can establish a maximum of one new course every academic year. Courses must be organised in a theoretical part and in a practical part realised in collaboration with labour world actors. Courses must comply with the following requirements:

a. the study plan must be developed in agreement with enterprises must ensure the acquisition of at least 50 CFU (Ects credits) through traineeship activities;

b. courses must have a maximum number of 50 students and must foresee an adequate number of tutors coming from enterprises involved;

c. at the end of the first year of experimentation, the indicator that evaluates the success in the career opportunities must be at least 80%. This threshold is the necessary condition to obtain the accreditation of the course after the first three-year period of experimentation.