Helping high school students find their own talent, understand their predispositions and skills to find their place in the world. This is the purpose of the event «Alice in the University of Miracles: a journey between fiction and reality in the university system”, the national university orientation day held at the Federico complex in San Giovanni a Teducciofull of students. The event was organized by Crui – the Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities and by University of Naples Federico IIin collaboration with San Pietro a Majella Conservatory of Music and Naples Academy of Fine Arts.

“We are here in our San Giovanni campus, which is a special campus – said the rector of Federico II, Matteo Lorito – and it is a truly special day that falls within us 800 years: eight centuries of meaning history 20 generations of students who were educated at Federico II. It’s the big decision moment that will change your life, and the first decision you make is to go to university, because it seems obvious but it’s not. In Italy, unfortunately, there is still not a fully satisfactory number of young people going to university, but today you have an educational offer in country and here at Frederick II which has never been so rich, diverse, high quality and welcoming”.

The figures say that in Italy, in 2021, 30-34 years old with a higher education degree were just under 27%, a significantly lower percentage than the EU average of 42% (Eurostat source), and far from the European target of 45% by 2030 in the 25-34 age group, as defined in the Council Resolution on the “Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training”.

“A day that – he emphasized Piero Salatinoguidance delegate of Frederick II and coordinator of the event – we wanted to achieve with a strong link and connections with other realities in higher education and the meeting in this field all together has a special significance».

from Stefano Ubertiniguidance delegate of CRUISE and rector of University of Tusciacame the call to students not to stop their studies: «If any of you have thought about not studying anymore, don’t do it because today’s world is changing at such a high speed that we don’t know what jobs will be in ten years and the only tool we have is study, acquiring skills because studying means learning skills, not getting a piece of paper. And a country with more graduates it is a more civilized country, with a more inclusive society, and this is the goal we must all have».

The event, which had a large participation, focused on the institutional activities of university orientation increasingly structured as a system, articulated in objectives, recipients, actors and implementation tools. An additional impetus to the orientation policies was provided by Next Generation EU program, which recognizes the measure “Active orientation in the school-university transition” with a budget of 250 million euros for investments aimed at facilitating the transition from high school to university and preventing university dropout in the following years.

“We will certainly surpass the one and a half million students reached with these orientation courses desired and funded by Pnrr that will get you into universities – he said Marcella Garganodirector general of higher education institutions of Blackberry – and you can see if there is an interest in you and don’t be afraid to make mistakes: many have failures that are not failures, but are part of the path made of mistakes, so live this opportunity as a great chance».

And about the changes in orientation in the last thirty years, Ettore Acerradirector of the Regional School Office of campaignhe reflected, recalling his experience as a young student when he was undecided between three undergraduate courses and also the mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfrediwho told how he thought of enrolling in Literature only to take a completely different path that led him to study Engineering, wishing students to make “the right choice that means a better life and above all a better future good for you and for all of us. ».