Can the students' career performance be helpful in predicting an increase in universities income?

The students’ academic failure and the delay in obtaining their final degree are a significant issue for the Italian universities and their shareholders. Based on indicators proposed by the Italian Ministry of University, the Italian universities are awarded a financial incentive if they reduce the students’ attrition and failure. In this paper we analyze the students’ careers performance using: 1) aggregate data; 2) individual data. The first compares the performances of the Italian universities using the measures and the indicators proposed by the Ministry. The second analyzes the students’ careers through an indicator based on credit earned by each student in seven academic years. The primary goal of this paper is to highlight elements that can be used by the policy makers to improve the careers of the university students.