Waiting for the decrees with the final posts
And it may not end there. Because these 14 thousand boxes – including 937 places for courses taught in English – could be further enriched. In the premises of the three Ministerial Decrees, dated 25 June, it is highlighted that those just announced are provisional posts, as the State-Regions Agreement is still pending for the determination of the definitive posts, an act that by law should have been defined within on April 30. Thus, given the delay in the resolution, since the Ministry of the University had to communicate the number of available ‘freshmen’ at least 60 days in advance – that is, before the dates of the admission exams of September 3 – we proceeded to publish both decrees with the total number of places, with their distribution among the various universities and with the procedures for carrying out the admission test (this will be the usual multiple choice test).
Without prejudice to other ‘limited number’ medical faculties
The substantial stalemate in the other two medical faculties involved in the national planned access: Dentistry and Veterinary, confirms the strong investment in terms of human resources concentrated above all on the courses of Medicine and Surgery. In the first case, for aspiring dentists, compared to 2020 there will be 1,239 places available, just 8 more, with an increase of 1.8% (twelve months ago there were 1,231). For future veterinarians, the chances will be even lower, with a ‘cut’ of 13 units (going from 890 places in 2020 to 877 in 2021). On the other hand, everything is still silent on the definitive picture of the health professions, another fundamental element for the sector.
Will the places be enough to meet the needs?
Despite this, it is by no means certain that the new entries are sufficient to bridge the gap between incoming doctors and the real needs of the health system. Even if, on this point, the opinions are conflicting: the Regions have increased the requested needs by + 22% (from 11,740 last year to 14,332); the increase indicated by the Federation of Doctors FNOMCEO was more contained (from 9,834 to 11,000, equal to + 10.6%). Same thing for Dentistry: here the Regions have increased the need by 419 units (+ 31%), from 1,312 last year to 1,722; while the Order of Dentists CAO reduces it to 940, almost half. Finally, for Veterinarians, the request from the Regions has increased from 852 to 1.007 (+ 17%), while the Order of Veterinarians FNOVI indicates 800. The places available indicated as provisional could therefore be very close to the definitive figure.
Many new courses in Medicine in the Southern regions
Returning to Medicine and Surgery, the increase largely depends on the approximately 400 places resulting from the activation of new Courses by some Southern Universities, which also open their respective Faculties and Schools of Medicine and Surgery: this is the case of the Universities LUM of Casamassima (Bari), of the University of Salento of Lecce, of that of Basilicata of Potenza and of that of Calabria of Rende (Cosenza). While among the universities that historically have degree courses in Medicine and Surgery, the greatest number of places is reserved for the ‘Sapienza’ of Rome (currently 1,068 free boxes), followed by the ‘Federico II’ University of Naples (623 ) and the University of Bologna (614).
The most obvious variations
The greatest increase, however, was at the University of Foggia (from 99 to 179 places, + 81%); followed by S. Raffaele in Milan (200 more places, from 346 to 546, which correspond to + 58%), Pavia (+66 places, from 314 to 380, a percentage of + 21%), the UniCamillus in Rome (from 135 to 195, plus 60 seats, or + 44%) and Parma (always 60 more seats, from 240 to 300, equivalent to an increase of 25%). An important negative balance, on the other hand, for the University of Ferrara (down from 661 to 598, losing 63 places, or -10%) and, albeit more limited, for Novara, Varese and Modena-Reggio Emilia (all down by a few units ).