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Massimiliano Jattoni Dall’Asén
Enrollments and courses in Higher Technological Institutes are growing, also driven by business demand. But there remains a gap between selections, registrations and graduates which slows down the expansion of the system
There is a thermometer that measures the fever of the job market better than others: the race for paths that promise immediately usable skills. The Higher Technological Institutes (Its Academy) — the professionalizing tertiary training courses that take place after graduation and outside university — are experiencing exactly this: a surge in subscribers which is no longer just a post-pandemic statistical rebound, but a structural signal. «The most updated data from the Ministry of Education and Merit confirm that the Pnrr represented a turning point for the ITS Academy», he explains Guido Toriellipresident of Rete Its Italy. «In three years, enrollments have tripled, reaching around 40 thousand students, with over 22 thousand new registrations in 2024». And above all: the average annual trajectory from 2021 is consistent with the Pnrr objective of doubling members compared to the starting levels.
It is no coincidence that, in the same surveys, a precise geography of growth also emerges: Lombardy leads the ranking in terms of number of memberswhile the Mechanical system remains the technological area with the largest student base. The point, however, is to understand why the curve is spiking now. And how much this growth can really be converted into graduates and employed people.
Pnrr effect: more offer, more orientation, more businesses within the routes
The financial and regulatory push is there. The Pnrr’s intervention aims to expand the offerstrengthen laboratories and infrastructures, strengthen the involvement of businesses, support scholarships, internships including abroad and teacher training. It is a strategy designed to transform ITS into a supply chain capable of growing rapidlyboth in terms of numbers and quality.
The growth of members, therefore, it’s not just a question of “attractiveness”: it is also the result of a system that tries to make itself more visible, accessible and capable of holding larger volumes.
The other side of the boom: many candidates, but registration is lost along the way
Within the expansion, however, there is a little-told friction. In the Indire 2022 monitoring, the pipeline was clear: over 26 thousand requests to participate in the selections, more than 22 thousand candidates present, approximately 19,600 eligible, but in the end just over 9 thousand actual members. A significant portion of those who passed the selection process did not complete the final step.
Translated: the potential demand is much larger than what turns into registration. The crux lies in the final connection – orientation, expectations, indirect costs, logistics – that is, in the distance between interest and final choice.
The push from businesses: demand that outpaces supply
What makes the growth of Its Academy structural are not only the Pnrr funds, but an industrial demand that runs faster than training supply. According to Unioncamere estimates, in 2025 Italian companies requested around 120 thousand IT graduates, but managed to intercept less than half of them. A gap that does not concern the attractiveness of the profiles, but their actual availability.
The phenomenon is particularly evident in sectors with greater technological intensity — advanced mechanics, mechatronics, ICT, logistics, green transition — where the ITS have become real channels of early recruitment. In over half of the courses, companies participate permanently in the planning of the training offer, helping to explain why, one year after graduation, the share of people employed in roles consistent with the path consistently exceeds 90%.
From an industrial point of view, the issue is no longer whether ITSs work, but how quickly they can grow without losing quality. As Confindustria underlines, higher technological education is today one of the key tools to reduce the country’s technical skills deficit. The challenge, once the extraordinary push of the Pnrr has been exhausted, will be to transform the current expansion into a stable supply chain, supported by ordinary financing and the structural involvement of companies.
The fact that convinces families and students: consistent work (almost always).
The promise of Its Academy does not live on slogans, but on results. National monitoring of completed routes shows employment rates above 85% one year after graduation, with a coherence between training and work that exceeds 90%. It is this data, more than any information campaign, that shifts choices post-diploma, especially in areas where the demand for qualified technicians is chronic.
Gender and areas: growth yes, but with the same imbalance
Finally, there remains a critical point that growth alone is not correcting: the composition of the basin. Female students represent just over a quarter of the enrolled students, a share that has essentially remained stable over the years. In short, the boom is not enough to rebalance participation: targeted orientation interventions and more inclusive access models will be needed.
What the leap really says
The leap of Its Academy is therefore the result of three factors that reinforce each other: resources and reforms that have expanded the offer, employment results that have built credibility and an industrial demand that pushes from below. The challenge now is to make a model that works permanent, reducing the dispersion between eligible and enrolled people and transforming the boom into a system.
December 30, 2025 (modified December 30, 2025 | 18:47)
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