Laurea

In Italy, the Iaurea is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now often worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremony and sometimes during the graduation party. A graduate is known as a laureato, literally "crowned with laurel."

Until very recently, lauree (plural for laurea) took longer to earn than undergraduate degrees elsewhere in Europe and North America. To earn a laurea, the student had to complete 4 to 6 years of university courses, and also complete a thesis, which in most cases required experimental work. Laureati are customarily addressed as dottore (for a man) or dottoressa (for a woman), i.e. "doctor".

Until the introduction of the Dottorato di ricerca (PhD-level education) in the mid-1980s, the laurea constituted the highest academic degree obtainable in Italy and allowed the holder to access the highest academic careers. Famous scientists Nobel prize winners such as for example Enrico Fermi, Emilio Segrè, Giulio Natta and Carlo Rubbia held a laurea as their highest degree. The reason is that the Italian laurea included high-level courses and thesis work which normally were sufficient to prepare for a career in research and academia.

The pre-Bologna Laurea degree (known as Laurea di Dottore in and formally named Diploma di laurea), is now equivalent by law to the new Italian Master's degree named Laurea Magistrale. In other countries, the old Laurea is usually considered as equivalent to a Bachelor's plus Master's degree because of the work carried out for the thesis.

Spurred by the Bologna process, a major reform was instituted in 1999 to align its programmes with the more universal system of undergraduate (Bachelor's degree) and postgraduate studies (Master's and Doctoral degrees). This allowed for greater mobility of university students via exchange programmes to other countries such as the United States and Commonwealth nations. The old laurea was split into undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and their programmes have been reformed.

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