The nation with Europe's lowest birth rate is relaxed about the possibility of a dwindling student population.
The total number of students in Italy grew steadily in the 1980s and 1990s. It crept up from 1.72 million in 2001-02 to 1.8 million in 2005-06.
It peaked in 2004-05 at 1.82 million, possibly due to the introduction of the three-years-plus-two system, which encouraged many dropouts to re-enrol, possibly because they preferred a finite course rather than infinite.
Although Italy has had exceptionally low birth rates for more than 20 years, the percentage of young people going to university has, in the past, been much lower than in other major European countries. The percentage is now growing faster than the birth rate is declining.
Yet some experts believe that the university system is existing on borrowed time.
"The declining birth rate has seriously affected schools," said Eugenio Sonnino, professor of demographics at La Sapienza University. "The phenomenon has not yet hit the universities. But it will, inevitably. And when it does, it will be felt very strongly."
In 1986, about per cent of 19-year-olds went to university compared with more than 60 per cent in 2006. The number of female students increased dramatically, and they now make up well over half the total.
Neither the University Ministry nor the Rectors' Conference regard the shrinking student population as an issue.
"We've never really thought about this, and there are no studies on the subject under way," one senior ministry official said.
Italy's universities suffer from overcrowding, jam-packed lecture halls and woefully insufficient student housing that have persisted for decades.
Moreover, the entire higher education system is underfinanced compared with other European countries and - for more than ten years - has been in the throes of a series of structural reforms.