Over the past seven years, Sardinia has lost 6,900 graduates: nearly a thousand a year. These are young people who attended primary, secondary, and university on the island and then left to pursue a master's degree or find work. This data is contained in a study that the CISL union will present next Wednesday in Cagliari, dedicated to the value of work.

The OECD, in its study "Education at a Glance," estimates that educating a graduate (with a master's degree) costs approximately $210,000. This virtual unit of measurement takes purchasing power parity into account, and translating it into euros isn't accurate, but doing so brings the total to approximately €180,000, a figure that doesn't surprise CISL regional secretary Pier Luigi Ledda: "In the mix," he points out, "are public investments, family expenses, university tuition fees, and even the lost earnings of those who, having graduated, study instead of working and earning a salary."

Multiplying €180,000 by the 986 graduates Sardinia loses each year, we arrive at an economic loss of €177.5 million annually. To this, explains Mariano Porcu, professor of social statistics at the University of Cagliari, we must add the loss of skills that Sardinia's productive system desperately needs.

Unbalanced skills

"Those leaving the island are mostly graduates in the so-called STEM disciplines, scientific-technological ones, that is, precisely the types of degrees that require more commitment from students and for which society spends more because they require laboratories and other facilities," explains the professor.

Missed contributions

The result? Among 25-34 year-olds living on the island, only 25% have a college degree, compared to the European average of 44%. This is another unfortunate consequence: less-skilled workers typically find lower-paying jobs that generate little social security contributions, while the island, with an increasingly aging population increasingly dependent on pensions, needs workers who pay high social security contributions. Instead, Ledda points out, "it finds itself with many young NEETs, those neither studying nor working."

Marco Noce

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