Bottom financial quintile student success

IULM has strict graduation/completion targets for students who fall into the bottom 20% of the household income group in the country.

Several barriers can affect the academic success of students, particularly those from low-income families. Below a list with IULM initiatives:

• Insufficient Academic Support; IULM offers to all its students Peer to peer tutoring service and dedicated academic support for students with disabilities and SLD;
• Financial Difficulties: IULM provides support for students from low income families to enable them to complete university in several ways:
  • Regional scholarships;
  • University scholarships;
  • Scholarships for international protection holders;
  • Catering service at a reduced rate;
  • Accomodation at favorable conditions;
• Work Commitments: Low-income students may have to work long hours to support themselves, reducing the time available to study. IULM offers the opportunity to attend the university courses part-time;
• Family Responsibilities; IULM has published an official Gender Equality Plan that ensures full participation to the university life students with children. In fact it envisages agreements with kindergartens and the creation of on-campus child-friendly spaces dedicated to breastfeeding, adaptation of toilets and installation of changing tables for children in the bathrooms.
• Cultural and Social Differences; IULM has implemented strict policies in order to guarantee the access to education to everyone and counter every firm of discrimination, such as:
  • The IULM Equal Opportunities Committee;
  • The IULM Code of Ethics;
  • The Gender Equality Plan;
• Mental Health Issues and Stress; IULM has several initiatives supporting psychological health of its students, such as:
  • Individual sessions of psychological counselling
  • Group meeting on mental health
    • FlessibilMente: un percorso per adattarsi al meglio alle sfide della vita e dell'università
    • Orienta-menti - webinar Fallimento non ti temo
    • Ready to answer
  • Collective seminars on mental health
    • Emotions in examination: a seminar for students
  • DiversaMENTE office especially dedicated to supporting students with disabilities and SLD
• Access to Technology and the Internet; IULM offers:
  • Free wi-fi connection
  • Study rooms with computers (see “Agenda web”)

In demonstration of the effectiveness of IULM initiatives, the dropout rate of our students equals to 13%.