Second-generation immigrants and Higher education in Italy: an upward social mobility? ALESSANDRO BOZZETTI University of Bologna

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1 Second-generation immigrants and Higher education in Italy: an upward social mobility? ALESSANDRO BOZZETTI University of Bologna Introduction Nowadays Italy is experiencing a structural, stable and multigenerational migratory presence in which new generations are increasingly getting access to the highest social and educational levels, including university. It is a process full of problems and obstacles, especially considering the Italian context, which has passed from being an emigration country to an immigration country only in recent years (even though the latest trends are revealing a significant shift). The educational choices of young people are either influenced by their social, cultural and economic background and also by their parents or other significant adults cultural background (Ravecca 2009; Spanò 2011). Furthermore, the fact of not being an Italian citizen can also influence whether or not enroll at university. Equally, other authors (Gans 1992) talked about a real area of cultural discomfort for young people coming from an immigrant background which can also lead them to have a less social upward mobility and to potential frustration of aspirations. In this paper, the phenomenon will be contextualised at first from a numerical point of view; then I will present the preliminary results I got in my PhD research, starting from secondary data and then focusing on the case of the University of Bologna. 1. The migration processes in Italy: numbers and trends In a world with an increasing number of international migrants (about 244 millions in 2015, according to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs from the United Nations, the 3.3% of the total population), the situation in Europe does not represent an exception. The countries of southern Europe have gradually acquired a central role in migration: for this reason many scholars introduced a new concept in the international debate, that of "Mediterranean model of immigration"

2 (Baldwin-Edwards 1997; Pugliese 2000). This model would describe the situation of those countries that, from the 70s, passed from being emigration to be prosperous immigration areas: this applies particularly to Greece, Spain, Portugal and indeed Italy. A peculiar characteristic of this model seems to be that the division in terms of development, income, living standards that separated before Northern and Southern Europe has now moved to south Mediterranean countries (Germani 2001, 108). The foreign workers coming to European Mediterranean countries are usually employed in sectors as personal care, housekeeping, tourism and tertiary sector. The Italian case, in particular, would be an emblematic case of a country characterized by a high attraction of care givers, who are not necessarily poorly qualified, but who, even if they hold high degrees, come to Italy to do lowskilled jobs (Ambrosini 2009; Saraceno 2009). Ambrosini (2005), by analysing the main employment models for immigrants, defines their usual employment as the 5 P s employment : precari occasional, pesanti heavy, pericolosi dangerous, poco pagati poorly paid and penalizzati socialmente socially penalised, and often in close contact with the informal economy. He speaks about a form of subordinate inclusion, which is based on a different treatment of national minorities and on the absence of equal opportunities. Nevertheless, the situation changes between first and second generation of migrants: welcome, reception and adaptation cannot be considered anymore the key words of these last personal experiences. Different financial opportunities have effects on their expectations and at the same time on their values. And this happens within a legal framework in which young people born in Italy to foreign parents, grown-up and educated in Italy, do not automatically receive the legal status of Italian citizens: this situation risks to have consequences not only on a legal and administrative level but also on the personal identity of these young people. The issue of secondgeneration immigrants in its whole (not only the children of immigrants who moved later to the other country but also those who were born in the foreign country, migrants without migration ), has a crucial role within migratory flows since it can point out a discrepancy between their

3 socialisation, developed in a new and full of expectations context, and the real opportunities that the receiving society is able to offer them. The ideal-typical paths of second-generation young immigrants can be different: the usual integration process that would mean the progressive loss of their own identity; the above-mentioned subordinate inclusion that would determine their convergence into the most disadvantaged population, and the selective integration (or segmented integration, following the most widespread debate in the United States) through which they would preserve, develop and readjust their identity to the new context, becoming a valuable source of support. The quantification of the foreign population present in Italy is rather complex, due to fragmentary and dissimilar information. Anyhow, despite the size of migration flows to Italy are declining since 2007, the foreign population in Italy continues to slowly grow, both in absolute numbers and in percentage. On January 1, 2016, ISTAT data indicated a presence of immigrants of just over 5 million people (5,026,153) on a population of 60,665,551, with a percentage incidence of 8.3% Nonetheless, according to the IDOS Study and Research Centre, the total amount of legal immigrants was higher, amounting to 5,498,000 units at the end of 2015 (IDOS 2016). According to the ISMU Foundation, the figure would be 5.9 million, considering applicants for international protection, refugees and irregulars, almost reaching the symbolic 10% share of the entire Italian population (Ismu Foundation, 2016a). More specifically, the most represented countries are Romania (22.9% of the foreign population in Italy; this percentage keeps increasing significantly following the inclusion of Romania in the European Union in 2007) and followed by distance by Albania (9.3%), Morocco (8.7%), China (5.4%) and Ukraine (4.6%). It should also be noted that the countries of origin of foreigners living in Italy are mainly Eastern countries of the European Union, followed by non-member States in the same area (Perna 2015). These dynamics are far more different than a decade ago: in 2003 almost 64% of the immigrants came from non-european countries. On the contrary, according to the latest survey, 52.4% of the

4 immigrant population in Italy comes, at present, from European countries. Furthermore, the current economic situation is not favourable at all, at least for Italy. This aspect also reflects the reasons that lead non-eu citizens entering Italy: among these, family reunification (41%) has significantly exceeded in the last years the work reasons (34% in 2013, while the percentage was equal to 61% in 2001). In order to finish this brief overview regarding the immigrant population in Italy, two significant variables, such as gender and age, have to be considered. The peculiarities of the Italian labour market and of its welfare system have favoured a constant increase of employment among foreign women in the fields of personal care and housekeeping despite the economic deterioration of the Italian households (Perna 2015). Partially due to the relevance of these sectors and due to the reason of family reunification, since 2008 the majority of immigrant population in Italy are women. The rise of female immigration also contributed in changing the age structure of the foreign population in Italy: for the first time in 2014 underage people reached one million units. If we also consider the wider population of people under 30 (the focus of this paper), we count a population of 1,553,666 units (ISTAT, 2016). It is also important to highlight how the data regarding the immigrant population are stabilising, with an increasing number both of minors (their presence increased by 450% from 2003 until today) and adults over 45 years: these trends will inevitably have implications on the Italian welfare, social security and health systems. 2. Second-generation : a rather complex category. To deepen the role that second generations have in terms of social integration means focusing on processes left behind in the analysis of migratory movements carried out by first-generation migrants, generally considered temporary and reversible. As Sayad (2004) points out, the birth of the second generation would upset the silent mechanisms of (precarious) acceptance of immigration, based precisely on the premise of its provisional nature. The presence of second

5 generations, on the contrary, represents a turning point in interethnic relations as it obliges "to become aware of irreversible transformation in the human and social geography of the countries" (Ambrosini 2004, p. 2), and it s a check of the outcome of the integrative processes implemented. The issue of second generations is therefore relevant in the context of migration processes as it may reveal a dissonance between their socialization in a new context, full of expectations, and the real opportunities that the receiving society is able to offer them. Unlike parents, who remain more intimately linked to their country of origin, the immigrants of second-generation, born in Italy or moved to their early years, are (should be) totally Italian citizens, integral part of the society in which they live (Portes and Rumbaut 2001). Their integration is therefore a challenge for social cohesion and, at the same time, a factor of transformation for both immigrant communities and recipient societies, called to build new forms of social ties (Ambrosini 2004). Defining the concept of second generation is not such a simple task: it is a multi-conceptual category, which sees within itself very heterogeneous situations. A plural population that, by breaking that solid barrier separating us from "them", strongly rooted in the collective imagination, would cause anxiety in the indigenous population (Ceravolo and Molina 2013). In the strict sense, the second generation is composed of the children of immigrants born in the country of destination. However, literature often tends to broaden this conceptual category even to young people who have attended at least part of their schooling in the host country. Rumbaut (1997) has attempted to examine in depth the concept and has developed a useful typology to better define different categories of "second generation youth", identifying a kind of continuum between the young born in the receiving country from foreign parents (G2), the one moved abroad in a prescholastic age (G1.75), the one move abroad in a scholastic-age (G1.5) and the one who arrives close to the full age (G1.25). It is therefore a population characterized not only by a great variety of origins but also by a wide variety of generational identities (Ceravolo and Molina 2013). Further attention is required not to fall into forms of "forced ethnicity", interpretative processes "that deal with cultural or national

6 affiliations as immutable and totalizing characteristics of the person" (Lagomarsino and Ravecca 2014, p. 64). On the contrary, it is always necessary to consider the agency of the subject, useful to overcome certain constraints. Moreover, all the research activities focusing on second-generations seem to highlight differences rather than similarities, greatly simplifying the phenomenon: it is another aspect that must be avoided. Finally, it should be highlighted that the same definition is constantly evolving. In October 2016 a new "Manifesto" was drawn up by the New Italian Generations National Organization, in which it is emphasized that "Italian New Generations seems to be a more inclusive definition in relation to the complex reality we represent" (p.2). 3. The numbers of a plural population The growth of the presence of second generation young people is linked to the rapid acceleration of migratory flows since the end of the last century. These flows, predominantly of young adults, have led, on the one hand, to the arrival of significant numbers of minors following their parents and, on the other, to a rapid increase in the number of births in Italy by foreign parents. Other important issues are the legalizations of an initially irregular immigration, the free movement within an increasingly wider European Union, the numerical growth of family reunions and mixed marriages. One of the most widely used sources to estimate at least part of the second generation population is the ISTAT birth register. Births from foreign parents grew over time, and then stabilized, starting from 2009, above 100,000 per year. If there was, in the last three years, a slight decrease in absolute terms, it must be emphasized that in percentage terms, the share of births from at least one foreign parent on total births is constantly increasing, from 7.8% in 2001 to 20.9% in 2015 (with great differences depending on the territorial context). The Italian context offers also a peculiar situation. Unlike other countries, mixed couples with children are constituted, in at least three cases out of four, by Italian father and foreign mother: since the mother would be primarily concerned with primary socialization, "it strengthens for them

7 - neither foreign, nor immigrant - a condition of immigrant children" (Molina 2014, p. 80). This explains the reason why it is important to keep in mind also the children of mixed couples in approaching the phenomenon. Being born of either foreign parent or just one of them implies the existence of different conditions in terms of citizenship rights: the children of, at least, one Italian parent, in fact, obtain the Italian citizenship at the time of birth, having no particular problems with the documents. Molina (2014) hypothesize a quantification of the various components of the the second-generation macro set. Although the author calls it a "very artisan attempt" (Molina 2014, p.77), it has the merit of considering the complexity of the phenomenon, giving it a reasonable approximation. The size of six different groups of people resident in Italy at the beginning of 2013 are taken into account: the foreigners born in Italy; the generations 1.75, 1.5 and 1.25; the children of mixed couples and the naturalized citizen. The first four groups, referring to the four different types of generation listed by Rumbaut (1997), would have about people, accounting for just under 10% of the population residing up to 20 years of age. IN addition to those groups, Molina also adds two different profiles of young people who elude all the findings based on the criterion of non-italian citizenship: the children of mixed couples and young people who have acquired Italian citizenship. In relation to the latter group, there are 112,000 young people between the ages of 0 and 19 who have acquired Italian citizenship, mainly following the naturalization of their parents. The latter two categories, accounting for about 3% of the population resident up to the age of twenties, would then quantify about one and a half million young people of second generation residing in Italy, up to 20 years of age (Molina 2014). Although it is a default estimate because it does not take into account young people over the age of 20 and because it dates back to 2013, this is one of the rare attempts to quantify this complex population.

8 4. The education as a key variable Because of space issues, I will not reflect on the theories at the bottom of the study of the second generations (not even on the segmented assimilation, the most widespread). One of the few fixed points in the theoretical and scientific debate of recent years is given by the centrality of the school in the paths of life of second generation students, a key place for their identity and cultural formation, as well as a crucial juncture for their delicate transition to the labor market. The school context plays a fundamental role in trying to mediate between distinct cultural codes, past experience and the different contexts of life (Vertovec 2009). If education can be considered, at a more general level, an important key to access to social mobility, it seems to have a further meaning for immigrant families: to be a chance for revenge for the first generations, which often had little chance of using the degrees obtained in the country of origin because they are not recognized (Kao and Tienda 1995). First-generation migrants would therefore be willing to give up the legitimate aspirations of success only if they recognized their efforts in their child's educational and work trajectories. Several contemporary theoretical constructs seek to explain the achievement gap between foreign and native students. Among these, the use of the concept of cultural discontinuity is rather widespread. There would be elements of inconsistency between the values transmitted by the culture of origin (and from the family) and those that are widespread in the society of destination (and therefore also in the school context). According to this interpretation, however, it is difficult to explain the different performance achieved by culturally distant students, such as the case of Asian students in the United States when compared with their Mexican companions (Portes and Rumbaut 2001). The existence of a double reference framework is also found in other theories (Ogbu 1982; Suárez Orozco e Suárez Orozco 1995). However, in all these approaches, attention is not paid to a factor that could affect the self-perception and the successful schooling of second generation youth, namely the assignment of categorization labels by the society of destination.

9 This latent tension that is also found in the so-called "immigrant optimism" approach (Kao and Tienda 1995): education, seen as an opportunity for social mobility for children and as an occasion for redemption of the sacrifices made by parents, often leads to unsatisfactory results, leaving unsatisfied hopes and unrealized dreams. Parents and children, deeply disillusioned, would therefore find comfort in the ethnic-cultural niches of their community, as long as they are present. Furthermore, several theories focus on the creation of social capital, which in interaction with other forms of capital (economic, cultural and human capital) becomes a crucial resource to mediate any adverse effects on youth adaptation in the destination context. According to the theory of segmented assimilation, it is therefore important to preserve some positive elements of the culture of origin, a specific and complementary expression of social capital that promotes the assumption of behavioural models useful to overcome the vulnerability conditions resulting from the migration experience, and also to internalize several aspects of the destination culture, thus to activate active forms of resilience. If literature seems to have focused mostly on the obstacles that migration can cause to the educational path of young people with such experiences, more and more widespread studies consider foreign origin as a resource, rather than a disadvantage, even in relation to successful schooling. Beyond the strong motivations not always found among indigenous people, such as considering education as the only way to redemption, other factors (cultural ethos, linguistic advantages) come into play. In any case, it is quite clear that migration status does not have a unique impact on school performance in itself: ethnic groups of origin, destination contexts, historical periods and phases are in fact variables that model in very different ways the educational trajectories of young second-generations students.

10 5. The foreign students in the Italian education system Over the last years, the Italian education system has been characterised by a constant rise of non- Italian students. At the end of the 2014/15 school year, according to MIUR data (2016), students came from an immigrant background: it is about 9.2% of the total (more than 10% in nurseries and primary schools, 9.6% in the lower secondary school/middle school and 7.0% in the upper secondary school/college). It should be noted that the percentage of non-italian students who were born in Italy (the narrow definition of second generations) is increasing and it represents 51.7% of the total of those students born to immigrant parents (even in this case the percentages are extremely different depending on the school level). The main country of origin is Romania (19.5% of total pupils with non-italian citizenship), followed by Albania (13.4%), Morocco (12.6%) and China (5.2%). If, in absolute terms, Lombardy has the largest number of pupils with non-italian citizenship with over 200,000 students, Emilia-Romagna is the region with the highest percentage of students with citizenship Non-Italian (15.5% of the total). MIUR (2016) data on secondary school choices are of great interest: the skills acquired in secondary education are likely to affect in a relevant manner the prospects of continuing to university studies and the related working opportunities (Molina 2014). If there is still a trend of "Licealization" among Italian students (48%), among foreign students technical education has overwhelmingly exceeded that of a professional type, especially thanks to foreign pupils born in Italy: among them the 36.3% choose technical education and 28.2% professional education; among foreign students born abroad, 36.8% choose technical education and 39.3% professional education. Among Italian students, the percentages are respectively 31.7% (technical education) and 20.4 (professional education). Anyway, students with an immigrant background are mainly enrolled to technical and professional institutes: this kind of education formally opens up to a university career but often produces a sort of school marginalisation that frequently results in social marginalisation.

11 If we also consider the foreign pupils' school path, though often lacking in linearity and being sometimes longer than that of Italian students, there is a decrease in the percentage value of their delay 1, which in any case remains rather high: 10.9% among Italian students, 34.4% among students with foreign citizenship (MIUR, 2016). The research conducted so far in Italy on the immigrant children's educational path has followed the demographic evolution of this population: they have concentrated mainly on lower grades of education (primary and secondary schools ), then extended to vocational training (Besozzi et al 2009, Santagati 2011) and to upper secondary education (Queirolo Palmas 2006, Ravecca 2009, Tieghi and Ognisanti 2009, Spanò 2011, Lagomarsino and Ravecca 2012), with some sporadic focuses on inclination to continue studies after secondary school's graduation (Sospiro 2010, Spanò, 2011). Although several researches have already highlighted successful educational paths for young people with a migratory background (Queirolo Palmas 2006, Besozzi et al. 2009), some problems seem to persist: a systematic "delay" by foreign students, due both to higher probability of repetition, as well as the frequent entry of newcomers in lower classes than their age, a high dropout rate and a predominant orientation towards short study paths, particularly towards technical and professional paths. As highlighted by Ceravolo and Molina (2013), the establishment of educational segregation processes against an ever-growing population is likely to lead to further slowdown in human capital building processes, further aggravating the Italian disadvantage towards the rest of Europe. In any case, the final evaluation provided by the two authors in relation to the education system is overall positive, mainly thanks to the willpower and the spirit of sacrifice of teachers and school principals. On the contrary, the issue of immigrant youth in the university is still not sufficiently explored: if at international level the first investigations, in the mid-1980s, concerned the experiences of certain ethnic groups, and successively the economic implications of post-secondary education, in Italy, at 1 It represents the ratio between pupils over-age with respect to the expected age for the attended grade and the total number of pupils.

12 the moment, the state of research is almost embryonic, with the only one qualitative research carried out by Lagomarsino and Ravecca (2014) at the University of Genoa. For what reasons? Resuming the comments of Ambrosini (2014, in Lagomarsino and Ravecca), the "tacitly disinterest" in regard to this emerging trend would essentially be linked to the successful biographies of these young people. Immigrant students enrolled at the university can t in fact be seen as a social problem: for this reason, attention to be addressed to those young people who have succeeded in carrying out successful educational and integrative pathways remains in the background, not making any kind of anticipatory analysis possible. The focus on foreign students at the University is usually aimed at international students, basically by reasons of internationalization of universities, a very useful index in the international ranking to attract new funding. However, it must be underlined the ever-increasing presence of young people born in other countries and subsequently arrived in Italy, or born in Italy by foreign parents, at least partly educated in our education system. The differences between the two student profiles are very deep, starting with the different social perception that characterizes them. International students, on the one hand, are seen as "desirable foreigners": well-educated, non-dangerous opponents in job placement due to their temporary and numerically limited presence (Lagomarsino and Ravecca 2014). On the other hand, second-generation students at the University are still a new phenomenon for public opinion, example of successful integration but also a concern in relation to the job placement, due to their presence not necessarily limited in time. The paper focuses ont he latter category of students, trying to understand their difficulties and resources in accessing postsecondary education.

13 6. Is University a choice just for a few? Foreign students in Italian universities Before examining the presence of young foreign people in Italian universities, it is worthwhile starting the analysis from a more general point of view. According to OECD data (2016), Italy ranks among the worst countries with regards to the graduate population between 25 and 64 years with a percentage of 17.5%, compared to the average of OECD countries which doubles the Italian percentage (36,2%). According to the MIUR data, in less than ten years the number of people enrolled in the first academic year has dropped from 305,935 (in 2006/07) to 275,613 (in 2015/16) 2. If we also consider the total number of people enrolled at university (1,660,595 in the 2015/16 academic year), a decreasing trend has been registered during the last five years. This phenomenon will definitely have repercussions on the labour market: the decision to invest in long learning education (Zurla 2001) is an idea that a lot people decide to shelve; for this reason, a young and always less qualified workforce, which historically involved young people coming from families with reduced social and economic resources, enters the labour market without a degree. Different factors hinder the access to higher education. Among these, the most predominant has probably an economic cause: the costs of university (direct costs like university fees, accommodation, transport; and indirect costs like the fact that students do not normally work during their studies) charge to the households, especially for the most vulnerable immigrant families. Apart from these hard barriers, academics have also identified several soft barriers to education (Finnie et al, 2008): among these, the lack of family and friends support; a lower level of social capital; a personal but also a family gap between immigrants and Italian students (which are not only linked to the their parents qualifications but also to their symbolic cultural capital); several language related issues and their symbolic implications. Nonetheless, despite the existence of these barriers, the presence of young immigrant students in Italian universities is increasing significantly. 2 These data are provisional and not final. It must be noticed that the decrease of the number of people enrolling at university is partially due to the end of the novelty of 3+2 reform of the university system that have encouraged more adults to enrol at university.

14 As may be seen in Figure 2, the number of foreign students enrolled at Italian universities is constantly increasing, from 45,556 in the 2006/07 academic year to 74,016 in the 2015/16 academic year 3. Exactly thanks to the increase of foreign students, the drop of people enrolled at university is not even more evident. Looking at the data regarding the last academic year (2015/16), it s interesting to note that out of the 74,016 foreign students enrolled at university (coming from 158 different countries), 34.5% is a citizen of one of the following countries: Albania, Romania and China (see Figure 1). If the number of Albanian students has always been significant during the last ten years (reaching 12,335 people during the 2009/10 academic year, representing the 20.2% of the foreign students), it is worth noting the increasing number of Romanian students (+234% compared to the 2006/07 academic year, constantly growing) and especially Chinese students (+402% compared to the 2006/07 academic year). Figure 1 The most represented countries among foreign students enrolled in Italian universities 2015/16 academic year, absolute values Source: analysis on MIUR official data (retrieved on the 23 rd of September 2016) More in detail, I will focus on foreign students with an Italian High school diploma now enrolled in Italian universities. This choice is linked to the terminological distinction that has been proposed by the OECD about international students and foreign students. The first designation refers to 3 The data are updated to September 2016: the figures regarding previous academic years can be considered as final data, but the data regarding the total of students enrolled at university during the academic years of 2015/16 is still provisional.

15 those people who move abroad for educational reasons; the second one refers to those students who are not citizens in the country in which they study but live in that country and in some cases they were even born there. The focus will be on those foreign students who have obtained the High school diploma in Italy, completing part of their education within the Italian school system and who then decided to go to university. By taking into account this differentiation, those young people born in Italy to foreign parents or who have been in Italy since they were children, but who have got the Italian citizenship, will not be considered: they can only be identified through the use of qualitative research tools because, when enrolling at the University, citizenship and place of birth of parents are not required. From a statistical point of view, the percentage of foreign students enrolled in Italian universities and with an Italian High school diploma is proportionally increasing up to 41.7% of the total of foreign students at university (from 26.7% ten years ago). Even considering that it s possible to obtain underestimations, we will take into account only those students who have certainly graduated from an Italian school. It is important to point this out because, in the MIUR statistics, the details regarding secondary school diplomas are not always specified for each student: in the last years these numbers were around 9,000 and 10,000 cases every year. Probably most of them have graduated from foreign secondary schools without explicitly providing this information when enrolling at university. Since the aim of this chapter is only to analyse those students who have completed at least a part of their education in Italy, it has been decided that these cases had not to be taken into account.

16 Figure 2 Foreign students and second-generation students (foreign students with Italian high school diploma) enrolled in Italian universities from 2006 to 2016, absolute and percentage values Foreign students (and percentage over the total of students) Foreign students with Italian baccaluareate (and percentage over the total of foreign students) ,4% 3,6% 3,8% 4,0% 4,2% 4,3% 4,5% ,8% ,7% ,0% ,4% ,2% ,2% ,3% ,0% ,4% ,3% ,3% ,9% ,7% Source: analysis on MIUR official data (retrieved on the 23 rd of September 2016) By analysing the countries of origin of foreign students enrolled at university with an Italian highschool diploma, the situation is partially different compared to the one described above: even if Albania and Romania are still the most represented countries, the difference between them is extremely smaller (see Figure 3). The number of Chinese students graduated from Italian secondary schools is instead really low: a clear majority of them hold a foreign diploma. Figure 3 Second generation students (foreign students with Italian high school diploma) enrolled in Italian universities: the most represented countries 2015/16 academic year, absolute values Source: analysis on MIUR official data (retrieved on the 23 rd of September 2016)

17 7. The educational path of second-generation students: a descriptive analysis. Due to the lack of qualitative research in the Italian context, the analysis is based on secondary quantitative data (especially from MIUR, updated and retrieved in September 2016). This study will reveal some features of the target population making a comparison with the whole student population. 7.1 Pre-University experience Interesting trends come to light by focusing on the type of high school diploma earned by students enrolled at the University. The differences among students with Italian citizenship and secondgeneration students appear very evident. Among the first, the percentage of students graduated from secondary schools specialised in classical and scientific studies is equal to 71.2%, while among second-generation students (students with foreign citizenship and with an Italian diploma) is equal to 43.9% in the 2015/16 academic year, highlighting a difference that amounts above 27 percentage points. Among second-generation students is much more frequent a technical certificate (38.8% compared with an 21.2% for their Italian peers) or a professional certificate (14.3% compared with a 4.1%), usually not related to the willingness to invest on a long-term education path, at least for Italians students. Therefore, it seems that the possibility of continuing the studies offered by technical and especially professional studies, while remaining residual (or just formal) for Italians students, is much more common among second-generation students, thus becoming not necessarily a precursor of school marginalization. Focusing on the final grade, we can see that, second-generation students have more generally achieved a lower final mark than that of their Italian peers, but among second-generation students the gender differences are lower. Among Italians students, 45.9% of girls achieved a final mark lower than 80/100 while among boys the percentage is 56.1% (difference of 10.2 percentage points). Among second generation, however, the percentage of students of both sexes with a final

18 mark lower than 80/100 is higher than that of the Italian students (60.7% for girls, 66.6% boys) but the gender difference is lower (5.9 percentage points). 7.2 University experience Over the total of university students, there is a majority of female students, almost 12 percentage point more than male students during the last academic year (a constant gap during the last decade). This difference is even more evident among the total number of foreign students (16.4 percentage point more than male students during the last academic year) and even more visible amongst foreign students with Italian High-school diploma: over the 30,850 university students enrolled in the last academic year, 64.2% are women and only 35.8% are men (a 28.4 percentage point of difference, increasing over the years). This phenomenon is therefore more than double between second generation students. While we can speak of a female leadership in the educational setting by at least two decades (Besozzi, 1997), it is interesting to understand how gender issues intersect with the migration experience. Several research activities carried out in countries with a longer multicultural tradition show that the reasons for this more considerable gender gap could be linked to the different socialization processes that affect both sexes: it seems to be a more family supervision exercised on women in immigrant families, in addition to the idea that education can represent for many women of immigrant origin an opportunity for social redemption and a possibility of self-realization (Ravecca and Lagomarsino, 2014). The research activities carried out in Britain and France and focused on Muslim girls (Haw, 1998; Hassini, 1997) seems to confirm that educational success is seen as an opportunity to distance themselves from family restrictions through a claim of greater personal freedom to parental figures (especially towards the father figure). This occurs without being put into question gender roles within the household, or the values of patriarchal culture, but aiming to create a flexible identity that seeks to reconcile the prescribed identity, bearer of family meanings, and the desired identity, bearer of a change (Aggoun, 2001). At a more general level, the

19 female component could then count on greater capital resources both within the family, in the form of parental monitoring and expectations, and outside the family, in the form of a more oriented network to academic success and of a more pronounced support of teachers, with which generally have more positive relationships than male peers. For male students, on the other hand, the presence of less strong protective and support networks, the possibility of negotiating more spaces of freedom with parents and the rather widespread need to emphasize their own masculinity to form a well determined (ethnically) identity seem to lead to less successful educational opportunities (Qin- Hilliard, 2003). The gender distribution in the case of second-generation students, however, is different depending on the country of origin: almost all the considered countries show a clear prevalence of women among students enrolled in an Italian university. Second-generation students, as before pointed out, are mostly Albanian and Romanian (over 40% of the total): the female component coming from these countries is overwhelming (around 67%). Clearly, variables such as the geographical area of origin and the gender patterns of their own tradition play a key role in determining the range of possible choices, results, aspirations, ways of use of the educational resource by immigrants (Colombo, 2003, p.91). The proximity or the adhesion to patriarchal ideologies widespread in certain countries, which tend to reproduce the values related to a subordination of the female, for example, would be closely linked to a low level of education, if not to an actual educational exclusion, of women (Hodges Persell et al, 1999). Focusing on different study areas, the majority of students with Italian citizenship is enrolled on degree courses related to the Social Area (36.6%), followed by the Scientific area (31,6%), by liberal-arts courses (17.7%) and, finally, by courses related to the health sector (14.1%). If one considers the total number of second-generation students, the percentages change, while remaining unchanged the order of preference just presented. The presence in degree courses of Social Area is even more relevant for second-generation students (41.7%, +5.1 percentage points compared to the Italians students) and, to a lesser extent, in liberal-arts courses (19.0%). Their presence is instead

20 lower in the degree courses of Health Area (11.8%) and, especially, in those of Scientific Area (27.5%, -4.1 percentage points). 7.3 Graduate students It is finally possible to make some mention regarding students who have already completed their university studies. The number of second-generation graduates is growing, but only from the 2012/13 academic year the proportion of foreign graduates holding an Italian degree reaches the 1% of total graduates. These data do not make possible any kind of generalization as the target population is very limited: in the academic year 2012/13, for the first time, foreign students graduated have exceeded the quota of 10,000 (out of about 300,000 total graduates). Among them, just under 3,000 were in possession of an Italian high school diploma. Briefly analysing the final grades, it appears that the grades achieved by the Italian students are on average higher than those of second-generation colleagues. Referring to the 2013/14 academic year, 21.3% of Italian graduates got top marks (110 cum laude), compared with 10.1% of second generation graduates. Focusing on the ten-year trend, you may notice that the percentage of those who get a degree mark lower than 90 has been growing steadily: a moderate growth for graduates with Italian citizenship (from 9.3% in the 2004/05 academic year, to 11.7% in the 2013/14 academic year), a much more important growth for second-generation graduates (from 10.8% to 23.6%), for which, however, the low number of cases must be taken into account. More generally, 64.4% of Italian graduates in that academic year achieved a grade higher than 100/110, while among the second-generation graduates this percentage stops at 42.9%. 8. Second generations at the University of Bologna: preliminary results I will now reveal some preliminary results of my PhD research, focused on the case of the University of Bologna. My research had both an exploratory reason (as there were no data available

21 about it), but also the willingness to check the incidence of classical variables that literature feels relevant in the implementation of successful educational paths. In the academic year 2015/2016, the year when empirical research was carried out, foreign students enrolled at the University of Bologna were 5,373, (6.7% of the total). Analyzing in more detail the composition, 1,720 students could be considered second-generation students, as they had foreign citizenship and a diploma acquired in Italy. Following the mixed method approach, I collected quantitative and qualitative data. At first, I ve submitted an online survey to second generation students: after a lot of privacy issues (citizenship is considered sensitive data), members of the secretariat sent an to the foreign citizens enrolled at the University of Bologna, informing them about the research and asking them to fill in the questionnaire. Initially I wanted to send it only to foreign students with Italian diploma but after testing the survey, some students (especially from Eastern Europe) said me that they, despite their foreign diploma, had already the idea of a project of life in Italy (who are currently carrying out). In order not to lose their life stories, the has been sent to all students with foreign citizenship. Among these there are also Erasmus students and exchange students: their stories are not my research focus. As many students do not consult the university mail accounts, I tried to contact them through social networks and online platforms. I carried out a sort of snowball sampling on Facebook contacting the students (I send private messages) in the official and unofficial Facebook groups of the University of Bologna. Doing so, I took into consideration also those students, children of immigrant parents, who have Italian citizenship and therefore who didn t receive the from the secretariat. Finally, 537 students, filling in the online survey, took part in the research. I focused on a number of issues, such as the student's (or family's) migration history, the student's education experience (both pre-university and university), employment and economic dimension, identity perception, social and relational networks of the subject, possible experiences of discrimination and prospects for the future.

22 At the same time I explored the theme also from a qualitative point of view, through in-depth interviews to second-generations students, to investigate in more detail their stories. I interviewed 30 students, and the topics on which I focused are the same as the online survey, investigated more thoroughly. Having not yet discussed my thesis, I can only anticipate some general points of my analysis: - I tried to create different profiles of students based on the intersection between two different variables: on one hand, to have received (or not) support from parents or other significant figures when they took the decision to continue to study; on the other hand the instrumental or attitudinal reasons at the bottom of their decision. The combination of these aspects affects the grades obtained, the significance attributed to the degree, the family relationship, and also the future; - the importance of the age of migration: there are greater difficulty for those arrived during the school age than those in pre-school age; - the importance of the high school attended; - the importance of the presence of an intact family and also of their family background. From the point of view of welfare policies, it is evident that being a second-generation student or an international student is very different. For the second-generation students, the school guidance is fundamental in relation to the choice of the Secondary School and at the time of enrollment at university. Second-generation students frequently have an information capital that is lower than that of Italian companions and they risk to take unwanted or unsuitable educational paths. At the same time, the opportunity to enjoy he use of scholarships and economic facilitations is a key factor in enrolling in university for these students who often work during their studies in order to be independent from their parents. Other issues are highlighted by those who have moved to Italy for specific reasons of studying: the main problem, in this case, is that of residence permits for study purposes. They emphasize that these permissions should have a longer duration to allow students to achieve better results and also to encourage them to stay in Italy (it would be also proficient for

23 Italy to benefit from a new cultural capital), and they also highlight the issues related to internships, which are mandatory in some areas, but for which the work or the study permits are not valid. Conclusions: changing the course? Given the widespread recession period and the ever-increasing competitiveness of the countries, the only winning strategy seems to be a strong investment in the overall growth of schooling, even noncompulsory. This is the starting point of the Bologna process and of the Lisbon 2020 strategies: the demand for new skills to spend in more and more skilled and creative work has become tangible. Education however, while not assuring with certainty the acquisition of the best job positions, is seen as necessary to ensure at least greater success opportunities. It is therefore necessary to accompany the right to study, guaranteed at the constitutional level, with actions to ensure equity in the opportunities of success, thus accompanying a recognized, formal participation to a concrete, actual participation (Lagomarsino and Ravecca 2014). The study of the different and complicated identities of young second-generation students inside the Italian university system is by now essential: they are no longer, or at least not only, students recently arrived or temporarily passing by Italy. This phenomenon is increasingly consolidated but, as it often occurs, research starts when the event is already rooted, without any anticipatory analysis. The presence of foreign students in Italian secondary schools has been extensively covered by research (especially regarding their presence in technical and professional institutes) but little is known about their presence at a university level. It would be simplistic to assume that those students who enrolled at university had never experienced any trouble in their pre-university or university career. Moreover, the opportunity to count on a theoretical corpus and on several experiences implemented in other countries that have already went through these dynamics would allow Italy to benefit from this international experience. Italy should be able to exploit this advantage in order to grow its human, cultural and economic capital.

24 If young people of immigrant origin are increasingly present in the highest levels of education, it is evident that the whole society, and especially the educational institutions, not just university, have to be able to put them into successful paths. Following Meuret (2001), the opportunity to achieve homogeneous results in a multiethnic educational system able to respect and enhance individual differences by rejecting inequalities must be guaranteed. References Aggoun, A. (2001) Le project de vie de l adolescent d origine maghrébine en situation de réussite scolaire, Migration Société, XII, 73: Ambrosini, M. and Molina S. (2004) Seconde generazioni. Un introduzione al futuro dell immigrazione in Italia. Torino: Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli. Ambrosini, M. (2005), Sociologia delle migrazioni, Bologna, Il Mulino. Ambrosini, M. (2007) Figli dell immigrazione in cerca di identità, Formazione e Lavoro, periodico dell ENAIP, 3: Ambrosini, M. (2009) Migrazioni, territori, appartenenze: una relazione contrastata, in B. Ghiringhelli and S. Marelli (eds) Accogliere gli immigrati: testimonianze di inclusione socioeconomica, Roma: Carocci, pp Baldwin-Edwards, M. (1997), The Emerging European Immigration Regime: Some Reflections on Implications for Southern Europe, in Journal of Common Markets Studies, vol.35(4), pp Barbagli, M. and Schmoll, C. (eds) (2011) La generazione dopo, Bologna: Il Mulino. Besozzi, E. (1997) La nuova domanda sociale di istruzione. Scuola Democratica, XX, 2-3: Besozzi, E., Colombo, M. and Santagati M. (2009) Giovani stranieri, nuovi cittadini. Le strategie di una generazione ponte. Milano: Franco Angeli. Brint, S. and Karabel J. (1989) The Diverted Dream: Community Colleges and the Promise of Educational Opportunity, New York: Oxford University Press. Ceravolo, F., Molina, S. (2013), Dieci anni di seconde generazioni in Italia, in Quaderni di Sociologia, n.63, pp Colombo, M. (2003) Differenze di genere nella formazione, Studi di Sociologia, 1: Crul, M. (2012) What is the best school integration context? School careers of the Turkish second generation in Europe, Mondi Migranti, 2: EUROSTAT, data available on: