Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research: new Guidelines to welcome and integrate foreign students

Eight years after its first draft, in February 2014 the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research published the new Guidelines to welcome and integrate foreign students. This paper is the result of a data collection and elaboration process realised by the Office for Immigration, Orientation and Fight against Dropping out of school, which falls under the General Direction for Students of the Ministry of Education.

Considering the deep changes which have affected the situation of non-Italian students in schools, in terms both of quantity and of distribution, the new Guidelines are meant to represent an up-to-date work tool for the education of young and adults.

The paper is divided into two parts. The first deals with the general context and gives an overview of the distribution of foreign students in schools at the present day, sorted by age, legal status and family situation.

The second part deals with the welcoming process, conceived here as ‘the combination of the measures through which the relation of the student and his family with the school system is officialized’, and thus, it offers some operative indications about enrolment, orientation, exams, classes of Italian language for foreigners, the role of the regional School Offices, the involvement of the students’ families, the measures to take in order to reduce delays at school and training classes for the teaching staff.

The paper is available in Italian from the link below.