Are Italian university students really that well-prepared, and are Canadian ones perhaps a notch higher?

From the January 8^th, 2011 edition of The Economist on a book called: “Not Quite Adults: Why 20-Somethings Are Choosing a Slower Path to Adulthood, and Why It’s Good for Everyone”, by Richard Settersten and Barbara Ray:

“A university degree has never been more essential for securing good employment. Graduates earn 54% more on average than those who have never graduated, yet only a quarter of Americans between 25 and 34 have a bachelor’s degree. Nearly half of the 3 million people who enrol in university in America drop out within six years (among wealthy countries, only Italy has a worse rate)”.

I do recall a few years ago reading that Canada had one of the world’s highest rates of students who begin their university studies and actually complete them: approximately 33% compared to America’s 32%. Looking around at the current situation in Italy (there are students who are well into their 30s, and they STILL haven’t completed their first degree!), the comment by The Economist isn’t terribly surprising…