The Italian government focuses on technical and vocational training

The Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, visited Micam in Milan today, the international footwear exhibition now in its 100th edition, to reiterate the urgent need to invest in training young people and promoting technical and professional courses. Faced with the creations of 870 brands – 401 of which are Italian – the minister emphasised the importance of combining beauty, creativity and traditional craftsmanship as the pillars of Made in Italy, recalling the legacy of icons such as Giorgio Armani.

Valditara announced the launch of a guidance campaign aimed at students and families to promote the advantages of technical and vocational courses and ITS (Technical Higher Education Institutes), defined as a concrete gateway to the world of work. The minister pointed out that 1.5 billion euros have already been invested in ITS, and that there has been a significant increase in enrolment. He also reiterated that the Italian education system, thanks to the ‘4+2’ model, is considered innovative at an international level.

The ‘4+2’ model — four years of technical or vocational diploma, followed by two years at ITS Academies — has now become structural thanks to the recent school decree, which made it compulsory and formalised its orientation towards school and work training, a new term that replaces the previous acronym PCTO. According to Valditara, this approach strengthens the link between school, business and innovation, so much so that several countries are already considering importing it into their education systems.

In summary, at Micam in Milan, the minister relaunched the integration between education and business, innovation, support for professional training courses and the international projection of the Italian training model, confirming his conviction that the training of young people is the real engine that can sustain and renew the Made in Italy brand.