Inauguration of the 2014/2015 academic year: only 3,7% of UCBM graduates is still looking for a job three years after graduation

95% of graduates are employed within three years, +14 points compared to the average of Italian universities

October 28, 2014 - Guaranteeing new graduates the best chances of entering the world of work, despite the context of the widespread employment crisis, especially among young people: this is the strong concept that emerged from the meetingInauguration of the 2014-2015 Academic Year ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. The XXII cycle of studies was officially opened today, in the Aula Magna of the University, by the Rector, Prof. Andrea Onetti Muda.

In his opening speech, Onetti Muda spoke of the “deep crisis situation” that crosses the Italian academic reality. “The numbers – explained the Rector of the Campus Bio-Medico – they speak clearly. In our country, in ten years, enrollments in degree courses have decreased by 58 thousand units, in the age group between 24 and 34 years there are 23 percent graduates, compared to an OECD average of 38 percent . […] All international rankings show the marginality of Italian universities on the world scene". How to respond to these difficulties? Onetti Muda emphasized, among other things, the need for "strengthening the relationship with the world of work".

The data relating to the employment rate of Campus Bio-Medico graduates three years after graduation they seem to agree with him: 95,2 percent, with 3,7 percent still looking for work. Compared to the national average, there are about 14 more employed (national figure: 81,1 per cent) and nine fewer unemployed (national figure: 12,7 per cent) for every 100 graduates (source: Almalaurea for the year 2013). Even more evident is the gap between the numbers of the Campus Bio-Medico and the ISTAT unemployment rate for graduates aged between 25 and 34, equal to 17 percent (-13,3 points). Going into detail, 95,8 per cent of new doctors and 94,3 per cent of Engineering graduates of the Campus Bio-Medico of Rome are employed three years after thesis discussion.

The University's effort to train professionals ready for an immediate working future is confirmed by the initiatives launched to enhance the academic results of students and encourage their contact with potential working realities already during their studies. Among these, the Rector cited "lactivation of the experimental Graduate Program. It will be a training course that in five years combines a master's degree and a research doctorate”. A five-year period between university lectures and company internships. “And especially – added Onetti Muda – a path that provides corporate training in a much higher percentage than that ensured by internships”. The companies will finance all or part of the students' journey with scholarships, will participate together with the University in the selection of candidates and will ensure them an academic apprenticeship within their own organisation.

Another element of the activities aimed at facilitating the entry of new graduates into the world of work mentioned by the Rector is the periodic meeting with the entrepreneurial realities interconnected with the University through a special committee. “We want to increase – hoped Onetti Muda – the number of companies involved in our University-Enterprise Committee”. At the end of the ceremony, nine prizes worth one thousand euros each were awarded to the most deserving students of each degree course. A further tangible sign with which theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma wants to enhance the preparation and results achieved by its students.

The University, which has eight Degree Courses divided into the Faculties of Medicine and Surgery and Engineering, has recorded a growth in the number of students, since 2008, equal to 57 percent and today is close to 2 (1.935). Half of the attending students are away from home, 72 per cent graduate in progress and the ratio between professors and students is equal to 1/15. 

The ceremony was opened by the greeting of President of the University, Dr. Felice Barela, who underlined the elaboration of a Strategic Direction Plan which will have the motto 'more quality, more people' at its centre. “I would like to emphasize - he said Barela - in particular the commitment to Research, which translates into some concrete initiatives [...]: an investment plan has been defined in core facilities for over 900 thousand euros which is in an advanced stage of execution. [...] Another example is the internal call for strategic research projects, which closed a few days ago. The objective of this call, which will finance a maximum of three projects for a total investment of 500 thousand euros, is to encourage our researchers to approach the themes of the European Horizon 2020 programs".

The President made another mention of the growth of the Bio-Medico Campus when speaking of the University Hospital, an integral part of the University. Highlighting the successful international accreditation to Joint Commission International and recalling the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Lazio region, which includes the opening of the Emergency Department at the end of 2016, Barela he added that “the time has come to take another step forward in terms of size".

Le themes of the imminent Expo 2015 were at the center of the inaugural speech, dedicated to 'Crops and cultures to feed the planet. Challenges and frontiers of Food Science' and pronounced by prof Laura De Gara, Delegate for the three-year degree course in Food and Human Nutrition Sciences. In his speech, De Gara he spoke of the controversies, in terms of scientific results, on the usefulness of antioxidants to combat serious pathologies, such as tumors for example. “Our University – recalled the teacher – is fully involved in this issue". De Gara he then spoke of a new multi-sensory platform, which has just been developed in the laboratories of the Campus Bio-Medico, created in collaboration with the engineers of the University. “This platform - he said - it will allow us to carry out food analysis, through components such as gases, liquids or food matrices. It exploits biological molecules, in some cases even of a plant type, and can be useful for the traceability of supply chain products, to identify food fraud, to carry out quality controls, to characterize biodiversity or certify the origin of a food".

The conclusions of the event were entrusted to the Prof. Stefano Paleari, President of the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI). Paleari recalled how “the era we live in presents us with profound changes and higher education systems, including universities, are not immune to these. Time, space and disciplinary boundaries seem to be questioned. Population decline, population aging, network technologies and new scientific trajectories also lead us to a new University. Is Europe ready for this new scenario? It's Italy? The search for a national ecosystem between universities appears highly desirable, with government institutions that can no longer ignore it. The experience of Campus Bio-Medico goes in this direction. In fact, this University is in some way a university-laboratory both because it is a meeting point between 'engineering' and 'medicine', and because of its small size, which is not necessarily a limit, but rather can guarantee greater flexibility".

Dichiarations that call into question those of the Rector of the Campus Bio-Medico on the model of non-state universities. “In this context – clarified Onetti Muda – as Rector of a non-state university, I cannot share the pressures which call for the assimilation of institutions such as ours to bodies governed by public law. [...] Precisely because of their autonomy, non-state universities must rather be called upon to contribute to the definitive creation of an academic system guided by the constitutional principle of autonomous systems".