Survey on foreign PhDs in Italy

fRDB research project, our policy suggestions

• The survey
• Our suggestions
• The dataset

The survey was carried out by the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti between April and May 2009. The survey involved 41 Italian universities, accounting for about 91% of PhD students in Italy. We received 451 responses, roughly 18% of the total number of foreign PhDs in Italy. 

A second group of questionnaires was also administered to foreign BIEM students at Università Bocconi (the BIEM is an undergraduate degree taught in English with an high percentage of foreign students compared to other Bocconi’s programs).

The questionnaire included questions concerning:

• Demographic information on foreign PhD/BIEM students
• Motivation for studying in Italy
• Compliance with immigration rules and bureaucracy: costs, time invested, problems faced
• Interactions with the university system

Results

A first draft of the results on foreign PhD students in Italy was presented at the annual European Conference of the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti, “Brain Drain and Brain Gain”, on May 23th in Pisa.

Here we attach:

• Summary of main results from the survey
• A Power Point presentation by Tito Boeri 
  (also in Italian)

Our suggestions

... read our suggestions on how to attract foreign "talents" in Italy!