Laurea

In Italy, the "laurea" is the main post-secondary academic degree.

Until very recently, "lauree" (plural for "laurea") took much longer to earn than undergraduate degrees elsewhere in Europe and North America. To earn a "laurea", the student had to complete 4 to 6 years of university courses (though it was customary to describe progress in terms of number of exams passed, rather than years), and also complete a thesis, which in most cases required experimental work. "Laureati" are customarily addressed as "dottore" (for a man) or "dottoressa" (for a woman), i.e. "doctor". The new system makes no formal provision for degree graduates to be addressed as Doctor.

Until the introduction of the "dottorato di ricerca" in the mid-1980s, the "laurea" constituted the highest academic degree obtainable in Italy and allowed the holder to access the highest academic careers. Famous scientists Nobel prize winners such as Enrico Fermi and Carlo Rubbia held a "laurea" in physics as their highest degree. The reason is that the Italian laurea included high-level courses and thesis work which normally were sufficient to prepare for a career in research and academia.

The "dottorato di ricerca", which was introduced in the mid-1980s and consisted in 3 years of Ph. D.-level courses and experimental work with thesis, all paid for by the state, gained popularity very slowly because only very few positions were made available by the state because of reasons of funding. Indeed, the Italian Republic has never made the "dottorato di ricerca" a requirement to become professors in the Italian academy. Beginning in 2000, unfunded positions for "dottorato di ricerca" have been made available, thus allowing a wider access to the degree.

Spurred by the Bologna process, a major reform was instituted in 1999 to introduce easier university degrees comparable to the bachelors. The ordinary "laurea" was split into undergraduate (equivalent to a bachelor's degree) and postgraduate studies (equivalent to a master's degree). The new "laurea triennale" (undergraduate) includes bachelor-level courses, simpler than those of the old "laurea", and its normative time to completion is three years (note that university-bound Italians normally graduate from "scuola secondaria superiore", high school, at the age of nineteen). To earn a "laurea triennale", the student must complete a thesis, but a less demanding one than required for the old "laurea". The "laurea specialistica" or "laurea magistrale" (postgraduate) can be earned in a two-year programme after the "laurea triennale", and requires an experimental thesis.The work required to attain the "dottorato di ricerca" lasts three years and can be undertaken only after achieving a "laurea magistrale".

The Italian State failed to defend the old "lauree" in the new European University system designed after the Bologna process. Even if the Italian law of 5/5/2004 recognized that a 4 year "laurea" be equivalent to 300 ECTS credits, in many EU states the old Italian "lauree" are under-valued Fact|date=February 2007: not least because very often the holders of a Laurea themselves insufficiently compare their qualification to a Bachelor's degree. This greatly affects the limitations on freedom of movement for Italian citizens inside the EU.Finland, for example, is one of the states that recognize the old Italian "laurea" as a full MA degree.