The selection of the candidacies received from young foreign students for the Invest Your Talent in Italy programme has been successfully completed.
A total of 587 applications were filed for the 55 scholarships offered by the partners of the programme (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Agenzia ICE and Uni-Italia, in association with Unioncamere and Confindustria), together with private sponsors, to students from 10 Countries: Azerbaijan, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Turkey and Vietnam.
The outcome, issuing from a well-coordinated and structured networked action, confirms the appeal that Italy’s academic and entrepreneurial excellence has on young talents from emerging Countries.
The main characteristic of the ‘Invest Your Talent in Italy’ programme lies in offering foreign students a higher education training course (Bachelor’s or Master’s degree) in the areas of Engineering/High Technologies, Design/Architecture, Economics/Management, followed by an internship at an Italian company interested in one or more of the Countries included in the programme.
At the same time, Invest Your Talent in Italy aims to make an original contribution to internationalising both the Italian university and production systems.
The Talents’ Countries of origin
An analysis of the applications revealed that the Country with the largest number of applications is Turkey (133), followed by Egypt and Indonesia (69 each), Ghana (62), Vietnam (57), Ethiopia (53), Colombia (52), Azerbaijan (45), Mexico (26) and Kazakhstan (21).
The areas of study most requested are Engineering/High Technologies (58.8%), followed at a distance by Economics/Management (26.2%) and Design/Architecture (15%).
The Universities most on demand are the Milan Polytechnic, La Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Trento, Tor Vergata University, the University of Macerata and the Turin Polytechnic.
The scholarship training courses at the Italian Universities partnering in the project will begin in September 2016.
“The results of this first phase to relaunch the project are very encouraging – said Vincenzo De Luca, Director General of the Foreign Ministry’s Directorate for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation – and confirm that “Invest Your Talent in Italy” is a winning cooperation model between institutions, Universities and companies, maximising the excellence of Brand Italy, stimulating better academic curricula and foreign student reception services, and building “bridges” and privileged ties with Countries that are strategic for Italy’s production system. We hope to progressively increase the resources allocated to the programme, also in cooperation with other agencies, in order to significantly increase the number of foreign talents capable of having a training and professional experience in our Country and qualifying them to become Ambassadors of Brand Italy throughout the world.”
