Intesa Sanpaolo and ADAPT Foundation together for "Skill Alliance"

On 4 October, Intesa Sanpaolo and the ADAPT Foundation presented the Skill Alliance research project - Higher education apprenticeships for achieving the ITS diploma: data, experiences, perspectives. The paper produced has the ambition of providing concrete ideas to create synergies between companies and training institutes and to strengthen, among entrepreneurs and educational institutions, the belief that the professional training of Higher Technological Institutes (ITS) and high-level apprenticeship can help to create a new way of teaching and doing business. 

The plural governance of the individual Foundations and the particularly innovative organizational-educational model distinguishes the ITS system for its flexibility and ability to integrate and dialogue with the territory. For these and other aspects, the Skill Alliance project continues by proposing 3 local events designed to promote the dissemination of the evidence that has emerged and to provide local foundations and businesses with relevant ideas and knowledge:

•  the tools that the project makes available for the implementation of high-level training and research apprenticeships within ITS courses;
•  the characteristics and opportunities of ITS courses, especially if combined with higher education apprenticeships.

 During the events, short focuses and case studies will be presented dedicated to the best practices, in terms of ITS training offer and virtuous use of the apprenticeship contract, emerging from the empirical analysis conducted.
The first appointments were held in Bergamo and Rome.

The case studies stem from the dialogue held by ADAPT researchers with 10 Foundations aimed at exploring and understanding their organisation, faculty, courses delivered, profiles trained, relationships with partners and all the other interesting elements of the training offer. The data collected were collated in the published documents with the aim of providing proximity operators (companies, training institutions, young people) with a panel of useful information to foster the dissemination of knowledge of the ITS training offer.

The Italian education system does not always succeed in providing young people with training geared to the professional profiles required by the world of work. There is, in fact, a strong mismatch between the training choices of young people and the needs of businesses. Moreover, many recent surveys conducted by specialised bodies among Italian students confirm a rather low overall level of skills and also a strong disparity between the different geographical areas of the country. These critical issues in the education and training of young people are reflected on the front of early school leaving, which - despite the efforts of the last few years - is a major and significant problem in Italy. 

In the Italian education system, Higher Technological Institutes are a strategic component for accelerating the technological and digital transition of our country. In fact, ITS ensure highly sought-after professional skills from companies, equipped with skills that enable modern innovation processes. It is noted that over 90% of ITS graduates find employment in tasks and professions consistent with what they studied during their training: a surprising figure, if we take into consideration the always complex transitions from school to work and the high mismatch rates described. Unfortunately, despite these data, the over 140 Foundations present in Italy are still little known and have just over 25,000 members compared to approximately 1 and a half million university students (ISTAT data).
The high-level or third-level apprenticeship is based on the alternation of theoretical training moments and practical training moments in work contexts. It is an institute that allows the knowledge gained at a theoretical level to be immediately tested in the field, activating a virtuous circle between study and work that generates usable skills that shorten the transition times between training and professional experience.
ITS and higher education apprenticeships are indicated as strategic elements by the Italian PNRR. The former are entrusted with the activation of territorial networks of synergy and collaboration with companies and academic research centres; higher education apprenticeships are instead indicated as a lever to promote the employability of young people and to respond to the needs of companies.
The synergy between ITS and higher education apprenticeships can further enhance these objectives and allow companies to enhance know-how in the processes of generational turnover and investment in younger people.

Intesa Sanpaolo, as it enters increasingly digital and technological future scenarios, already glimpses and experiments with work processes remodeled through technology and is already looking for professional figures capable of managing these processes. They are people trained in the spirit of interdisciplinarity and the connection between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge acquired in the field. These recent experiences increasingly strengthen the Bank's responsibility to intervene to help increase the quality of the education system, as well as the belief that for every young person with difficulty accessing the world of work, the community loses an opportunity for growth and development. But not only that, the same experiences also increase the commitment to contribute to creating the conditions to enhance those individual skills that make young people flexible, inclusive and capable of participating autonomously in decision-making processes.

ADAPT Foundation  aims to encourage the inclusion of young people in the job market. To this end, it proposes planning and research activities and has established an international school of higher education on the topics of employment transitions and work relations. The School develops advanced training and research courses, aimed at facilitating employment transitions and promoting integration between educational and training courses and the job market. The School, in fact, promotes research doctorates, master's degrees, specialization courses, training and orientation internships, and advanced apprenticeship training courses.