Alumni Unibo and Teach For Italy. A Commitment Rooted in the University

For many Alumni of the University of Bologna, university is not only a period of academic education, but also a time when a deeper awareness of one’s role in society begins to take shape. In this context, initiatives such as Teach For Italy, a Third Sector organization committed to strengthening public schools in areas facing significant educational disadvantage, represent a concrete opportunity to undertake a meaningful experience in the non-profit sector through a two-year Fellowship.

The program is open to graduates from a wide range of academic backgrounds and places them in public schools operating in particularly vulnerable contexts. In the last year alone, 155 applications to the Fellowship came from Alumni of the University of Bologna, accounting for 8.5% of the national total: a significant figure that highlights the connection between the education received at the University and the desire to actively contribute to reducing educational inequalities.

The context in which Teach For Italy operates is complex. In Italy, socio-economic background still has a major impact on educational pathways: one young person out of eight does not complete upper secondary school, and millions of girls and boys remain excluded from educational and employment opportunities. The Fellowship was created in response to this challenge.

The program is a free, paid two-year experience that combines teaching with a structured pathway of training, mentoring, and leadership development. The experience goes beyond classroom activities, offering participants the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the education system, learn through direct experience, and develop transferable skills that are valuable beyond the school environment.

At the end of the two years, participants join a network of Alumni working across different professional sectors, united by a shared commitment to building a more equitable education system.

The following stories tell the journeys of two Alumnae of the University of Bologna who chose to take part in the Fellowship: different experiences brought together by the belief that university education can become the starting point for a commitment capable of making a concrete impact on the educational future of the country.