Boom of online universities: 10% of graduates obtain their degree from a digital university

Boom of online universities in Italy. In our country, the number of graduates is constantly increasing thanks to the contribution of telematic universities, institutions that offer mainly or exclusively distance learning courses.

In the last 10 years, these institutions have played a significant role in bringing the total number of enrollments to a record 2 million, precisely 1,949,481 in the 2020/21 academic year. This represents a notable leap forward compared to the 1,767,008 enrollments recorded exactly a decade earlier. The growth is mainly attributable to telematic universities, which in the same period went from just over 40,000 enrollments to over 220,000. This significant increase is documented in the report of the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System (ANVUR), analyzed by the portal Skuola.net.

Boom of online universities: The number of "digital" graduates is growing

Telematic universities have also seen a notable increase in the percentage of students who successfully complete their university studies. Currently, about 10% of graduates obtain their degree from a "digital" university. Among the nearly 350,000 academic degrees awarded, over 34,000 are attributed to telematic universities, representing 9.9% of the total. This marks a significant increase compared to the past, when this percentage was only 1.7%: in 2011/2012, just over 5,000 graduates (5,220) out of a total of about 300,000 came from online universities. In this time frame, the figure has multiplied by almost six.

In the last decade, online educational offerings have doubled

In the meantime, what has changed? A key factor is the expansion of the educational offerings of telematic universities, which have gradually attracted an ever-increasing number of students. The 11 universities in this category have more than doubled the number of degree courses, going from 70 to 149 (+113%). Currently, with the exception of Medicine and a few other cases that require practical internships, it is possible to study practically anything at a distance, even engineering.

Analyzing the structure of this offering, the disciplinary area with the highest number of "telematic" courses is the economic-legal and social area, which counts 68, representing 45.6% of the total. Next is the STEM, technical-scientific area, with 38 courses, equal to 25.5%. In third place is the artistic, literary, and education area, with 33 courses, corresponding to 22.1% of the total. The list is closed by the health and agro-veterinary area, with 10 degrees, 6.7%, mainly focused on courses in Sports and Motor Sciences.

Progress has also been fueled by the widespread availability of fast Internet connections, along with the development of two key elements: students' digital skills and technologies for distance learning. Without a doubt, the pandemic has further accelerated the process already underway, bringing distance learning to be accepted by the general public.

Telematic Universities: an open challenge to traditional courses

It is interesting to examine, in terms of enrollment flows, the composition of students considering how many are enrolled in telematic universities coming from traditional institutions. During the 2021/22 academic year, as many as 101,000 students enrolled in "distance" universities, equal to 45.2% of the approximately 224,000 total, had already had experience in "physical" universities.

The demographic profile of "online" students is also changing. Despite the predominant presence of working students or recent high school graduates, the ability to attract young people in their twenties is increasing.

However, analyzing three-year degrees, it emerges that almost 80% of the degrees awarded by traditional universities in 2020/21 concern graduates up to 23 years old, while the percentage drops drastically to 20.6% for telematic universities (8.4% in 2011/12), where almost 60% of degrees are still awarded to students of at least 28 years old.