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Towards an inclusive university future: the sixth edition of the Me.Mo. project begins. Social Mobility and Merit, in order not to waste the talents of female and male students who are the first in their families to want to embark on an academic pathway

Considerable growth in the number of applications (over 1300) and selected participants (from 360 to 613) thanks to the collaboration between some of Italy's most prestigious academic institutions united in the MERITA network, financed with National Recovery and Resilience Plan funds 

Publication date: 24.01.2025
Memo News 2025
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A fundamental support for students with excellent academic results and who, in their own families, with parents who have not graduated, represent the first generation to want to pursue a university career, guaranteeing access to studies even in situations of eventual cultural and socio-economic fragility. The sixth edition of the Me.Mo. (Merit and Social Mobility) projectis about to start with record numbers, starting with the number of applications received from all over Italy. Coordinated by the Sant'Anna School of Pisa and financed with resources from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) through the project ‘MERITA, the network for talent’ in which the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Collegio Superiore of the University of Bologna, the Scuola Galileiana of Padua and the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati of the Sapienza University of Rome participate, thanks to MERITA, the Me.Mo. project has succeeded in increasing the number of participants from 360 to 613, thus expanding its impact on a national scale. According to Almalaurea 2024 data, 85 per cent of graduates from families where at least one parent has a university degree decided to enrol at university (without ever having dropped out) after secondary school; this share drops to 69 per cent among young people whose parents have a secondary school degree and stops at 51 per cent among those whose father and mother have a lower degree. Me.Mo.'s impact data are very encouraging: considering the 2022/23 edition and the 2023/24 edition, the university enrolment rates of the participants, all with both parents without a degree, exceed 90 per cent.

Record numbers for an increasingly ambitious project. With over 1,300 applications from all over Italy, the new edition has seen an extraordinary response from students and the schools themselves, confirming that the Me.Mo. project meets a real requirement for support and orientation towards university studies. More than 300 high schools responded to the call for applications. Among the candidates, 38 per cent came from the South, 21 per cent from the Centre, Sicily and Sardinia, and the remaining 41 per cent from Northern Italy. This geographically representative distribution demonstrates the project's ability to reach all social and economic realities of the country.

Key role for university students: tutors and mentors to foster change One of the distinctive features of Me.Mo. is the active involvement of female students and university students, who play a key role in the guidance and support that characterises the project. Through the peer-to-peer sharing programme, female university students, who often also come from similar backgrounds as the participants, become tutors and mentors. This approach enables high school girls and boys to be mentored by those who have recently faced the same difficulties in accessing university, creating a supportive learning and experience-sharing environment. Student tutors do not just offer support in academic activities, but become fundamental in motivating participants, stimulating their self-esteem and helping them to develop critical and active thinking about their future choices. The tutors share not only theoretical knowledge but also lived experiences, creating an empathetic and authentic bond.

Path of excellence: orientation, simulations and mentoring. The Me.Mo. programme offers a training pathway that includes thematic meetings, admission test simulations, customised mentoring activities and in-person training sessions at the partner schools' premises. The selected students will have the opportunity to meet with professionals, university lecturers and, indeed, university tutors, creating a learning pathway that not only prepares them for university, but also teaches them how to manage the challenges of change. The Me.Mo. project is not only an academic opportunity, but also an opportunity for personal growth. With each edition of Merit and Social Mobility, thanks to the commitment of university students and the support network created, the programme contributes to reducing social inequalities and helping to build a fairer and more inclusive society.

Rector Sabina Nuti: ‘An ongoing investment in the future ‘An authentic investment for the future of Italy,’ emphasises the Rector of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Sabina Nuti, who continues: ’The Merit and Social Mobility project represents an investment for the future of our society. We cannot allow the talent of so many girls and boys to be dispersed and not adequately valorised due to the lack of culture and proactivity of their families of origin. The Me.Mo. project wants to give them the keys to open the doors of university and, with it, a future full of opportunities. Female and male university students, who participate as tutors, are the beating heart of the Me.Mo. project and do not only pass on academic skills, but represent a reference point not too far away in terms of age from which they can seek advice and help, because every challenge for one's future can be overcome, provided that they receive the right support. Education is the only tool to ensure effective social mobility: thanks to the Me.Mo. project, these young people will have one more chance to write their own future, with the support of those who have already taken the same path. Merit and Social Mobility continues to prove that merit has no barriers: access to university is a right for everyone, and every deserving student has the potential to achieve great things’.