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.
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