At a general level, Istat measured that the gap on education levels between Italy and the rest of Europe has continued to widen in recent years, for example, the share of people with a high school diploma in Italy in 2019 was 62.9%, which is significantly lower than the European average of 79% and that of some of the largest EU countries. The share of 25-64 year-olds with a tertiary degree in Italy is also very low, being 20.1% compared to 32.8% in the EU27 average.Furthermore, for many years now, one of the priorities of the European Union in the field of education and training has been the reduction of early school leaving, which has serious repercussions on the lives of young people and society in general. In Europe, the phenomenon is measured by the proportion of 18-24 year olds with at most a lower secondary qualification who are out of the education and training system (Early Leavers from Education and Training, ELET).

This indicator was one of the benchmarks of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which set the European target value at 10%, to be reduced to 9% by 2030. In Italy, in 2020, the share of young people who left school early is 13.1%, for a total of about 543 thousand young people, a slight decrease over the previous year. Despite the fact that Italy has made considerable progress in terms of early school leavers, the share of ELETs remains among the highest in the EU: in the year of closure of the Union’s 10-year strategy, the percentage fell to 9.9%.

It is evident that, at the root of all this, there are also serious gaps in active policies of support for study, which are completely lacking in Italy. It is no coincidence, therefore, that all the nations that have student loan systems in Europe belong substantially to the Nordics, Germany and Great Britain. Although national educational schemes are difficult to compare, these nations are also among those that support their students the most.

In contrast, Southern European nations are among those that act (or rather: do not act) in the opposite direction.

This is also reflected in students’ social roles and behaviors: students live independently, and are helped to be so by being empowered as young citizens who are investing in their future, and in all of this the loan component in the support they are offered becomes important. In Southern regions like Italy, on the contrary, where many more students still live with their parents, young people are still considered and treated as dependent children of the family system and are rarely helped to cover the direct and indirect costs of education.One of the priorities of the European Union in the field of education and training has been the reduction of early school leaving.

In this context, in 2021 in Italy, less than 1% of university students had taken on private debt to finance their studies. This figure is far from the European average of 30%. Such a low rate of student credit penetration suggests a very inexpensive education and university system with widely available welfare tools. The reality, however, is that Italy is the fifth country in Europe to have the highest average tuition fees (2000€). The cost of fees, moreover, has seen an increasing trend in the last 10 years with an increase over the period of 30%. In addition, scholarships have a very limited coverage and are not homogeneous across the country since they depend on the regional budget.

A key part of this picture are the lending institutions that, due to the growing needs to allocate resources for impact finance, have a renewed motivation to build financial products to support education. For this reason, Habacus stands as a system actor that, by facilitating access to credit, can significantly change the perception of student loans in Italy, contributing to a more equitable education, greater independence of students, especially those off-campus, and increased participation in tertiary education.The business model of HabacusThe project is supported by several institutions that -like LIFTT- support it financially and are part of the social capital.

Habacus is a company that fits hybridly into the fintech-edutech sector: the business model is based on a proprietary certification that enables a path of academic performance certification with the aim of supporting the personal goals of students who want to improve their skills rather than re-skilling for a repositioning in a different market context.

Habacus is at the center of an ecosystem that aims to help students achieve their educational goals, thus directing them towards informed study choices using certifications as enablers and supporting them in accessing the world of work.

At the target level, the ideal individual is the student under 25 who has a training need yet to be developed but also people under 55 who have a different training need that goes in the direction of re-skilling rather than retraining in the professional world.

Habacus caters to educational, financial or corporate entities by offering orientation paths and facilitating clients’ access to courses and catalogs rather than breaking down economic barriers.

In finance, the aim is to promote products and access to training or education cost-sharing products; in this case, Habacus acts as a service provider for the delivery of financial firm products.

Lastly, there is the corporate world, which through a welfare-like model offers employees services such as scholarships but also the possibility of coming into contact with students during their courses of study. At corporate level, one of the most important partnerships is undoubtedly with Poste Italiane, although there are also ongoing discussions with TIM, Fincantieri and Cattolica Assicurazioni.The Team

In the management of Habacus, in addition to the founder Paolo Cuniberti, stands out Camilla Budelli, who covers the role of COO, operations director with great passion and experience in the world of Big Data technology, which in this case can enhance a business model that promotes social impact and enhances human resources according to an innovative business model. Another important name is Andrea Morresi, who is an investor and partner with the role of Advisor: expert in the financial sector, he supports the team in the development of the plan.