Earth Sciences and STEM initiatives: the Geology Project in the framework of "Piano Lauree Scientifiche"

The “Piano Lauree Scientifiche” is an initiative of the Italian Ministry of University and Education aimed to sustain Science, Technology and Maths studies. It is active since 2005, but only in 2015 Geology courses have been included in the grant system. The “Piano” is structured in seven national disciplinary partnerships, including all the Italian Universities where a BSc course is listed in their undergraduate prospectus. Then, the 29 Universities involved in the Geology Project share general and specific objectives for vocational guidance of incoming students, training of secondary school teachers, and initiatives to reduce the drop-out. The description of these objectives and the results obtained in the last three years are presented and it can stimulate the discussion to improve the project during the next years, when new specific tasks will be added: gender-related issues, enhancement of mentoring and accompaniment initiatives, refresher training for school teachers.