Overview
- Presenting an update to Parliament, the minister rejected a return to pre-admission tests and outlined changes for next year, including slimmer exam syllabi, longer teaching periods and more time between courses and exams.
- The ministry is preparing a decree to place students who passed two of the three exams into the national ranking, assigning seats with an obligation to recover missing credits by February 28 under university-defined procedures.
- First-appello outcomes were poor, with roughly 22–23% passing Biology and Chemistry and 10–15% passing Physics; second-appello results are expected on December 23 ahead of the January 12 national ranking.
- Student unions and opposition parties kept up protests as a petition for Bernini’s resignation surpassed 90,000 signatures, and even voices within the majority asked for safeguards against a de facto grade giveaway.
- Academic criticism intensified, with Bologna Medicine faculty urging abolition of the model and the Gimbe observatory warning the ‘sanatoria’ risks a blanket pass, while universities moved to extend enrollments to avoid lost years for unsuccessful candidates.