Announced at the Italian Students in Europe conference, the program will use European structural funds to support fourth-year students enrolled in Italy’s licei, technical institutes and vocational schools to undertake study placements at schools across Europe, with the Ministry of Education and Merit covering travel, accommodation, meals and other living expenses.
The government expects the initiative to benefit around one-third of Italy’s fourth-year upper secondary cohort, with funding allocated directly to participating schools, which will then identify students using a combination of academic merit and Italy’s ISEE socio-economic indicator to widen access to overseas experiences regardless of financial background.
Around 15,000 teachers will accompany participating student groups, with both their travel costs and remuneration funded by the ministry.
The standard placement will typically last two weeks, although schools will also be able to organise longer programs of up to six months, allowing students to integrate into the regular school cycle of host institutions.
Rather than focusing solely on classroom-based language learning, the program is designed to combine linguistic development with immersion in host-country education systems.
Participants will study alongside local students, attend lessons in subjects including history, mathematics and science, and take part in collaborative projects, innovation workshops, company and institutional visits, meetings with experts and scientists, intensive language courses and short university-style programs.
It is not only about strengthening language skills. It is about experiencing internationalisation, discovering other worlds, developing talents and unlocking students’ potential
Giuseppe Valditara, education minister
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said students should view the initiative as far more than an opportunity to improve their foreign-language proficiency.
“Do not think of this simply as a chance to learn another language better. Spending even a few weeks or months studying abroad means facing new situations, becoming more independent, meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds, and broadening your horizons and your understanding of others,” Meloni said at the conference.
Meloni argued that the experience would better prepare young people for university and employment in an increasingly interconnected world, saying that while learning another language was important, using it in real-life situations mattered even more.
She added: “They will bring back new ideas, new friendships, greater self-confidence and a broader view of the world. That will be a benefit not only for them, but also for their friends, their families, their schools and Italy as a whole.”
Highlighting the government’s rationale for the investment, Meloni said language should never become a barrier to opportunity.
“A young person’s talent must never be held back by a language barrier. If we fail to remove that barrier today, we risk limiting the choices many young Italians will be able to make tomorrow.”
Education minister Giuseppe Valditara described the program as “the largest language enhancement plan ever conceived for the Italian school system”, saying it was about far more than strengthening language skills.
“It is not only about strengthening language skills. It is about experiencing internationalisation, discovering other worlds, developing talents and unlocking students’ potential.”
Valditara added that the program “fully reflects our idea of a school that values the talents of every young person.”
The government said the program forms part of a broader effort to strengthen the international dimension of Italian schooling through overseas mobility, language learning and engagement with education systems across Europe.
