NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

In 1993, some 92467 students were awarded the laurea degree, while 6 522 obtained the DU (1st degree). In 1994, the
number of laurea holders amounted to 98057 (51784 women), whereas the DU was conferred on 6879 students (4360
women).
With reference to such third level degree studies as specialisation
schools, statistical data say that in 1994/95 they were attended by
36 708 postgraduates (17605 female students); in 1994, some 14 803 postgraduates (6350 women) were awarded the final
third level degree (diploma di specialista).
In the academic year 1994/95 only 363 foreign students enrolled at Italian universities in DU courses: some 222 came from
European countries (86 from EU Member States), the rest mainly from Africa and Asia.
As for laurea courses, 21859 foreign students (9521 women) enrolled in 1994/95; some 13931 of them came from European
countries; in particular, 9660 (4309 female students) belonged to the EU, with Greece as the best represented Member State
(6960 students), while 4271 (2571 female students) came from other European countries, including the EFTA area.
The main areas in which foreign students traditionally enrol are medicine, architecture, engineering and pharmacy.
The total number of foreign students who were awarded a laurea degree in 1994 amounted to 1288 (503 female students).
I.3. Organisation of courses of study
Even if the Italian university system has retained some of its traditional features — such as its typical rhythm based on an
annual teaching
module — it must be stressed that quite a number of innovations have taken place in the last two decades, all of them
connected with the
organisation of individual degree courses, the general institutional management, and university life in a broader sense. Said
innovations, at first introduced on an experimental basis, have been adopted by way of consolidated practice, if not always
with the force of law.
Moreover, a few significant reforms — such as the establishment of the new Ministry of Universities and Scientific and
Technological Research, the creation of new institutions to avoid the overcrowding of university sites in the largest cities, the
increase in institutional autonomy, the renewal and rearrangement of course contents and study organisation at all levels, and
the adoption of new provisions to improve students’ welfare services — have brought about considerable changes in the whole
system.
A parliamentary act which has greatly affected university studies and organisation is the reform of 19 November 1990, No
341.
First of all, the above act clearly states that Italian university education is organised on different levels, each offering one or
more typologies of final degrees ( 1 ). Then, with reference to first level studies, it defines the nature and purpose of the new
university diploma courses, describing also the possible evolution of university schools for special purposes. Finally, it makes
provisions related to the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning at all levels: e.g. it states that a laurea degree must
be the minimum compulsory requirement for access to the teaching profession in elementary schools; it also establishes new
specialised post-Lauream courses for the training of secondary school teachers; determines that tutorial assistance is to be
granted to both undergraduate and graduate students, and so on.