Rome, 2 August 2023
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT), the Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM) and the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group (FS) have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote initiatives and collaborations between the world of schools and the businesses world in order to identify concrete solutions for tackling the growing problem of the mismatch between the skills required by businesses and those resulting from schooling and educational programmes. A difference between supply and demand that, in 2022, involved over 2 million people and that constitutes an obstacle to the search for competent and skilled staff.
The interinstitutional agreement was signed at the MIT headquarters by the Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini, by the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara and by the Chief Executive Officer of the FS Italiane Group Luigi Ferraris.
The three-year agreement envisages various initiatives to promote information, dialogue and the co-planning of programmes and tools that respond to the need to train professional profiles suited to employment needs, and to promote operational projects with schools and the regions. The goal is to progressively build an increasingly integrated supply chain of professional training.
The main tool is the strengthening of the link between the world of school and the business world through moments of discussion, the aim of which will be to contribute over time to bridging the gap between the skills required by businesses and those acquired at the end of schooling, promoting greater awareness of employment prospects and future growth for the professional figures in the sector. The protocol also envisages the promotion of educational programmes that use teaching workshops to develop strategic skills and the creation of monitoring between Ministries of the experiences initiated and the results achieved.
The initiatives envisaged by the agreement are part of a context in which the phenomenon of the mismatch between supply and demand for labour is constantly growing. The phenomenon was accelerated by the pandemic and affects about 1.3 billion people worldwide, with the risk of reducing productivity globally by 6%. It is estimated that, at national level between 2023 and 2027, 34.3% of employment needs will require personnel with a tertiary, university or professionalising level of education and 48.1% will concern profiles with a technical-professional second level type of secondary education.
The interinstitutional agreement marks the beginning of new strategic and sustainable cooperation, constituting an important step towards the construction of a more inclusive, solid working future aligned with market needs.