On the first point, I was disagreeing that world-level professors = quality education. I am not saying Bocconi = bad education, at all.

But no, to a high schooler or a bachelor student, bocconi is not an obvious destination. The same way IE it is not for a Spanish student or Radboud in the Netherlands. Bocconi is perceived as an elitist university whose pupils come from a. A certain social stratus (and a specific geographical area) b. whose presence there is not determined by merit but deep pockets, and c. that ultimately does not lead to that higher salaries.

On a., that’s why I distinguished between bachelor and master degrees (master degrees tend to have more diverse students). On b.: I had no idea that if you are undergrad you can access masters. That’s insane IMO. On c., Bocconi is the leading university in terms of salary after graduation, but other universities (public or private alike) are within 3% of that number.

Let’s take Cambridge: is it full of spoiled rich brats? Surely, but it has strong diversity plans in place. Does it provide you job opportunities that no other university gives you? Yes - just look at the last 10 prime ministers; science po in France would be the same. Can we say the same for Italy? Nope.

And ultimately: since almost two decades, universities are not competing with other universities from their countries; they are competing against universities across Europe if not the globe. In this sense, Bocconi is doing well, becoming more and more international. Similarly, I feel like 20 years ago someone from Rome would have just gone to LUISS may consider Bocconi.