Survey on foreign PhDs in Italy

The survey was carried out by the Fondazione Ing. 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

Dataset (with its codebook) and the questionnaire can be freely downloaded.

Credits: Alessandro Vecchiato