The imminent closure of schools represents, for young Italian children, the beginning of a period dedicated to leisure, to the discovery of new places and experiences, but not only that: among the new generations there are those who choose to take advantage of the break summer as a training opportunity to consolidate your language skills. According to Education First’s Ef Epi 2023 Report, in fact, Italy is still behind when it comes to learning the English language, in twenty-sixth position out of 34 in Europe.
In view of the summer restart of the Study Holidays program, Education First with its observatory has collected and processed data on the geographical origin of the young people who left with the program in 2023 to observe their distribution throughout the Italian territory. The region with the highest number of students leaving to study abroad is Lombardy, with 26% of the total. On the second step of the podium is Lazio with 19.2%, followed by Veneto (7.20%) and Campania (7.10%). Emilia-Romagna is in sixth position, after Piedmont, with a value equal to 6.9% of the total.
Extending our gaze to the cities, Bologna, where 30.4% of the region’s departures are concentrated, is clearly in first place, with a considerable gap on Modena, second with 15.9%. Surprise in third position, where Forlì is located which, with 14.5% of departures, has a higher figure than cities higher in number of inhabitants such as Parma (13%) and Reggio Emilia (10.1%). Subsequently, Ravenna and Ferrara follow with 5.80% and Piacenza with 4.3% of total departures.
“The arrival of the summer break brings with it countless opportunities for young students and the study of languages, with alternative methodologies to the classic ones adopted by schools, represents one of the best investments for their future – comments Natalia Anguas, CEO of EF Italy -. Learning foreign languages, especially English, has a real impact on social mobility and the reduction of inequalities, especially in less populated centers and provincial cities.”
