ROME – Just five percent of students in Italian universities come from abroad, according to provisional data on enrollment numbers, a statistic that correlates with low rankings for Italian institutions in The Times Higher Education league table.

 This academic year (2021/2022) there are less than 17,000 students who come from countries other than Italy, making up approximately five percent of the total. As noted in Il Sole, this figure is similar to last year, when 17,712 foreign students enrolled. 

 In the Times Higher Education Ranking 2022, the University of Hong Kong came first place, with 43 percent of its student body hailing from abroad. The highest rated Italian university is Milan Polytechnic in 97th place, then Bologna at 124th, Rome La Sapienza at 127th and Padua 132nd.

 The number of courses offered in a foreign language, mainly English, has doubled in Italian institutions in the last five years. In 2016/17 there were 440 on offer, today there are 891. However, it appears that it has not been enough to draw in foreign students.

 On the other hand, there are still large numbers of Italian students going to study abroad. The latest Unesco Global flow of university-level students in 2019 declared that 77,000 Italians were abroad for study reasons.

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