ITSs represent a strategic asset for Italian industry, a real breeding ground for '4.0 skills': specialised and transversal skills that enable people to manage and not be subjected to technological change, starting with the knowledge and mastery of digital languages and the aptitude for 'learning to learn'.

The presence of companies in the teaching but also in the governance of ITS makes it the level of education where the exercise of educational responsibility by productive actors is highest and most widespread. Confindustria itself, through its territorial and trade associations, is a member of more than 60 of the 116 ITS Foundations in Italy.

Nevertheless, the limitations and structural fragilities of ITS are still evident: just over 20,000 enrolled; very short-term funding; the presence of underperforming ITS Foundations; the lack of physical locations and laboratories for the best-performing ITS; and the lack of structured guidance.

For Confindustria, the DDL under discussion in the Senate must address these fragilities and achieve the goal of stabilising the ITS system, also in terms of identity and mission, as an alternative and complementary post-diploma system to the university.