Italy

Last update: May, 2022

Historically, Fine Arts Academies and Academies of Music in Italy have been considered school institutions, and as such placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Education (MPI). In the 1990s, responsibility for the non-university sector of higher arts and cultural education was shared between MPI (institutions for fine and applied arts, dance, drama and music) and the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities - MIBAC. During that decade, Academies and Conservatoires lobbied intensively to be granted university status for two main reasons: a) equivalent institutions in other EU member states already enjoyed university status, which meant that foreign professionals in the artistic sector were formally recognised with higher qualifications than Italian ones, despite having attained the same degree of higher education; b) over time, universities had become “competitors” to Academies and Conservatoires, having established their own courses in the arts and music (e.g. DAMS – Arts, Music and Performing Arts Disciplines).

The long-awaited reform of higher education in the artistic sector (drama, dance and music) finally started to take place in 1999, when the then Ministry for University and Scientific-Technological Research (MURST) issued Law 508/99. In 2001, MPI and MURST were merged into the new Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). A further step in the reform of higher arts education was taken in December 2012, when AFAM courses were at last awarded university status (Financial Stability Law 2012).

In January 2020, after further changes, during Giuseppe Conte’s second term of office as head of government, the Ministry of Education, University and Research was split into two departments by a decree law, one the Ministry of Education and the other the Ministry of Universities and Research – also comprising a General Direction for Higher Education in the Arts, Music, and Dance – which is now the main institution responsible for artistic and cultural education, as all the university courses in the culture area fall under its scope.

The other administrative institution with wide responsibility in artistic and cultural education is the present Ministry of Culture, which performs a wide and articulated activity in the field of education at several levels, through its General Direction for Education, Research and Cultural Institutions, which holds and carries out functions and tasks relating to coordination, design and assessment of education, training and research programmes in the area under the responsibility of the Ministry. Starting from 2015, the General Direction has been drafting – in collaboration with the High Council for Cultural and Natural Heritage – an annual report, the National Plan for Cultural Heritage Education. The aim of the Plan, whose layout follows the guidelines of Law 107 enacted in July 2015 called the “Good School” law (see chapter 5.2) is to promote knowledge of heritage. The Plan is implemented also through specific agreements with the Regions, local authorities, universities and not-for-profit associations working in the areas of competence of the Ministry. The Direction follows the implementation, control and assessment of related activities and actions, also through the work of the Centre for Educational Services (SED) which has been operative since 1998.

The Fondazione Scuola dei beni e delle attività culturali (Foundation School of Cultural Heritage and Activities), founded in 2014, and having as partner the Ministry of Culture, falls also in the area covered here. It is an international institution dedicated to training, research and higher education. It carries out activities of lifelong learning and retraining for cultural heritage professionals.

Last update: May, 2022

The study of arts in schools focuses mainly on the discipline called “Art and Image”, established in 2003 following the reform adopted by Minister Moratti, and implemented with Law 53/80 combining a cycle-based system (1^st cycle lasting 8 years and 2^nd cycle lasting 5) with the right-duty to education and learning, while also establishing compulsory schooling for at least 12 years or, in any case, up to the age of 18.

Under said law, the teaching of “Art and Image” starts in primary school (where it has replaced the discipline of “image education”) and continues in 1^st level secondary school where it is included in compulsory disciplines and has replaced the previous “artistic education” discipline.

The next Law 133/2008 called “Gelmini Reform” from the then-Minister of Education, has introduced further changes. The main innovation in arts education has been the creation of another type of 2^nd level secondary school, specifically devoted to music and dance, the Liceo musicale e coreutico (Music and Dance High School”, while the previous Licei artistici (Fine Arts High Schools) were reorganised into six educational paths: visual arts, architecture and environment, audiovisual and multimedia; design, graphics, and set-design.

Now high schools and institutes providing fine art education are the following:

• Art High School (5 years)
• Humanities High School (3 or 5 years based on academic courses)
• Language High School (3 years)
• Scientific High School (5 years)
• Music and Dance High School (5 years)
• High School of Human Sciences (3 years)
• Technical Institute for Tourism (3 years)
• Training School in social-health care (1 year)

Those intending to pursue an academic education in the artistic field after the lower secondary school – even with professional aspirations – can follow courses pertaining to the System of Higher Professional Education in Art, Music and Dance (AFAM - Alta Formazione Professionale Artistica Musicale e Coreutica) – see chapter 5.3.

A subsequent relevant step in the system we are outlining is represented by Law 107/2015 known as "Buona Scuola" (Good School) and in particular by one of its related legislative decrees of 2017 called: Regulations on the promotion of humanistic culture, the enhancement of heritage and cultural productions and the support of creativity^[1]. The decree identifies «guaranteeing humanistic culture and artistic knowledge for students» as a priority. It also states that «it is the task of the national education and training system to promote the study, knowledge and practice of the arts, as a fundamental requirement of the curriculum». It provides for the adoption, every three years, by decree of the President of the Council of Ministers, of a Plan for the Arts, and of a special fund called the “Fund for the promotion of humanistic culture, artistic heritage and creativity” with an endowment of 2 million euros per year, starting from 2017. A relevant feature of the provision is the introduction of the “themes of creativity” as components of the curriculum and the identification of four reference areas for educational institutions, for the purpose of implementing initiatives consistent with the contents of the legislative decree: musical-dance; theatrical-performance; artistic-visual; linguistic-creative. The implementation of the Plan of the Arts foresees the selection of projects by individual schools or networks of schools recruited through invitation calls issued by MIUR.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 marked a setback for face-to-face teaching as well as for all related projects. In any case, calls for the presentation of new projects were issued in 2021.

^[1]   https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2017/05/16/17G00068/sg

Last update: May, 2022

In Italy, for the most part, higher arts education is part of the system of AFAM - Alta Formazione Artistica Musicale e Coreutica (Higher Education in Music and Dance) under Law 508 of December 1999, which reformed the sector of arts education, framing it as “higher education at tertiary level and of specialist nature”, and subdividing it into three cycles of education, equivalent to those of university education, by incorporating the guidelines defined by the Bologna Process. Data in the AFAM system are systematically collected through an annual statistical census-like survey, carried out in all AFAM Institutions. The survey is part of the National Statistical Plan (Piano Statistico Nazionale - PSN). According to the latest data provided by the Ministry of University and Research, the AFAM system includes 157 institutions, 54.5% of which belong to the Music and Dance Area, and the remaining ones to the Arts Area (comprising Design, Fashion and Theatre), subdivided as follows: 20 State-run Academies of Fine Arts; 19 legally recognized Academies; 59 State-run Music Conservatories; 18 Non-state Higher Institutes of Music Studies (formerly called Equivalent Musical Institutes); 5 State-run Higher Institutes for Arts Industries; 1 State-run National Academy of Dance; 1 State-run National Academy of Dramatic Arts; and 34 other private entities authorized to issue AFAM diplomas with legal value.

Starting from its inception, the AFAM system has experienced an on-going expansion, with a 32% growth in the number of courses in the last ten years, and a doubling in the number of enrolments. In the 2019-2020 school year, enrolment involved a total of about 78,500 units/students, 35.9% opting for Schools in the Music and Dance Area and 64.1% for Artistic Area Schools. In 2020, approximately 17,800 academic degrees were awarded (in the last ten years the number of graduates has increased by 78%). Overall, women graduate in a greater number than men. It should also be noted that the latest survey carried out by AlmaLaurea – a consortium representing 78 Italian Universities which carries out surveys on the employment opportunities of graduate students – shows that 53.6% of graduates have found employment within two years of graduation, and of those only a fifth work in the arts-expressive field; the main professional activity of the employed is teaching, and only for two thirds of them in the arts field. A specific feature of the AFAM system is the high number of foreign students, which have tripled since 2010-2011. In the academic year 2019-2020, enrolments referring to this group reached 16.5% of the total, with a clear incidence of Asians (over 72%), in particular Chinese, promoted by the Cultural Cooperation Programme Turandot for the arts, music and design. This programme is implemented thanks to an agreement between the Italian and Chinese Governments in continuity with the Marco Polo University Programme launched in Italy in 2005. As regards specific learning in the field of Cultural Heritage, education pertains exclusively to public and private universities providing three-year courses, five-year courses and master's degree courses in this area.

Last update: May, 2022

See chapter 5.1 and 5.2.

Last update: May, 2022

Following the 2001 reform of the Constitution, under art. 117, vocational training falls under the responsibility of the Regions, which had also expanded their predominant role in this sector in the previous decade.

As regards the cultural field, Italian Regions support many training actions, covering the different educational options of lifelong learning and continuous education – primarily together with the Ministry of Labour and the European Social Fund. The territorial distribution of institutions with a specific focus on education is also unevenly spread, with higher concentration in regions like Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Tuscany, Lombardy, and Puglia. The cultural sector has multiple training needs differing in terms of content and type. These needs were identified and analysed at first within the Excelsior Project - Information System for Employment and Training launched in 1997 and created by Unioncamere in agreement with ANPAL - Agenzia Nazionale Politiche Attive del Lavoro (National Agency for Active Labour Policies), with the contribution of the European Social Fund. Considered one of the most authoritative research tools in the National Statistical Programme, the Excelsior Project aims at monitoring trends in the labour demand and the learning, skill and professional needs expressed by companies in all industrial sectors. As part of the project, the report called The professional and training needs of cultural enterprises is produced annually.

The panorama of professional training in the cultural field has seen the emergence of new players in recent years, in particular the ITS - Istituti Tecnici Superiori (Higher Technical Institutes), which provides a post-secondary, non-university, professionalising learning offer, aimed at favouring access of “intermediate technicians”. The ITS were established with a 2007 law and implemented in 2010. The training offer is defined at the regional level and by the autonomous provinces on the basis of territorial plans adopted every three years, and varies from region to region; their legal status is the Fondazione di partecipazione (participatory foundation). The courses last two years and provide for the acquisition of credits recognized by universities, but some may have a duration of three years. The ITS are activated on the basis of projects shared by universities, research centres, secondary schools, local authorities, higher education institutions, individual companies and associations from the labour and business sectors. They cover six technological areas considered as a priority for the economic development and competitiveness of the country. One of them specifically refers to the cultural sector and includes two areas: “Tourism” and “Cultural Activities and Cultural and Artistic Heritage”. It should also be added that other areas, such as “Information and communication technologies” and “New technologies for the Made-in-Italy” (which also includes the “Fashion system”), are in fact part of the cultural and creative sectors. The employment outcomes of ITS, as shown in national monitoring carried out in 2020, are decidedly positive. One year after the acquisition of the certification, 86.4% of graduates from the area “Innovative technologies for cultural heritage and activities – Tourism” (21 courses) were employed (this is the area with the highest rate). It should also be noted that Mission 4: Education and Research of the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan)provides for a reform of the ITS system which further develops it “by strengthening the organizational and teaching model (...)”. The reform, which will be implemented by the Ministry of Education with the collaboration of the Ministry of University and Research, also provides for the integration of ITS courses with the system of vocational degrees at university level.