Bocconi 2018/2019: A University of Entrepreneurship and Skills

THE ADVANTAGE OF SELECTING FROM A TALENT POOL THAT IS LARGER (OVER 20,000 APPLICATIONS LAST YEAR) AND MORE INTERNATIONAL (70 NON ITALIAN PROFESSORS AND 39% FOREIGN STUDENTS IN THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE PROGRAMS IN ENGLISH): THIS IS WHERE THE UNIVERSITY'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE GROWTH OF ITALY AND EUROPE STARTS, EXPLAINS RECTOR GIANMARIO VERONA

Skills and entrepreneurship are the characteristics that Bocconi promotes to enable its students and faculty to make a real contribution to the development of Italy and Europe. This was the central theme of the address made by the Rector, Gianmario Verona, at the Opening Ceremony of the Academic Year 2018-2019, which took place today in the Aula Magna at Via Roentgen 1.

«At Bocconi, the development of skills,» Verona said, «is based on two main components: human capital (professors and students) and the educational experience.»

The growth in faculty human capital can be seen in the increase of permanent faculty professors, which changed from 339 to 370 in the past two years, and in their growing internationality and research productivity. There are 70 non-Italian professors (19% of the total) coming from top-tier universities, 17 of whom are Full Professors, testimony to Bocconi's ability to attract even the most distinguished international figures.

«These talented resources also stay on at Bocconi due to the quality of our research-related infrastructure,» the Rector said. «Overall, research funding, both from third parties and made available by Bocconi, has grown from € 16,837,000 in 2015 to over € 23,500,000 estimated for 2018.» Of particular importance is the success Bocconi faculty has had in winning funding made available by the European Research Council (whose President, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, attended the Opening Ceremony). With 32 grants hosted from 2007 to the present, for a total of €34mln and the involvement of a network of over 200 researchers worldwide, Bocconi is a European reference point in its fields of expertise.

Bocconi contributes to the development of students’ human capital by ensuring access to studies, whatever an applicant’s economic conditions. For the 2018-2019 academic year, €29.1mln have been allocated in scholarships (€22.2mln allocated by Bocconi, with an increase of 5.5% on the previous year, the rest in public funding). The University can also select its students from a broader and more international talent pool: there were 20,043 applications to the five schools for the last academic year (an increase of 19% in two years); applications by foreigner students, in the same period, increased by an impressive 40.7%. Bocconi has a total of 14,200 students, 2,500 of whom are from abroad. By including students temporarily here for exchanges, there are over 3,000 foreign students at any time. In the Bachelor of Science programs in English, their presence reaches 39%, and 71% in the MBA. The best-represented nationalities are: France 14.5%, China 11%, Germany 10.4%, Turkey 7.3%, and USA 4.3% of the non-Italian total.

Innovative teaching, international exchanges among a network of 275 partner universities all over the world, the chance to earn a Double Degree (28 agreements in place) and widespread availability of internships (4,761 in 2017, 28.3% of which are abroad) contribute to a high quality educational experience. As a result, the percentage of graduates employed one year after getting their degree is 95.8% (72.7% on graduation day). One year after graduation, 26.4% of those working are employed abroad, a figure that rises to 43.5% if only graduates of programs in English are considered.

Since entrepreneurship – understood not only as launching startups, but also as a capacity for innovation within consolidated companies – is an increasingly important ingredient of development, Bocconi strives to promote both understanding of the phenomenon and the aptitude for entrepreneurship. This effort is implemented through research and teaching, and also through SDA Bocconi School of Management, the school specialized in the continuous training of managers. The School’s activities also include numerous projects in collaboration with companies, plus the incubator Speed MI Up and initiatives such as Bocconi StartUpDay and BeReady2Fly.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are also increasingly central to the development of Bocconi itself, so much so that the Rector, in launching his second term this academic year, has created the new position of Dean for Innovation.

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Rector's Address
 

by Fabio Todesco
Translated by Richard Greenslade