The second indicator of the Europe 2020 strategy is the rate of early school leaving of 18-24 year olds.

The education sector has made significant improvements in recent years, thanks to which Apulia has come very close to the target set for the new programming phase. 

The main strands of the regional strategy for 2014-2020 focus on primary and secondary education, with a view to further improving skills and early school-leaving outcomes and concluding the process of building a quality education system that, when fully implemented, is inclusive, in particular for students at higher risk of dropping out, while at the same time providing guidance and skills to enable them to enter the labour market or to pursue university or vocational training. 

In addition, in order to promote specialist and high-level training, a substantial effort must be made to make Apulian universities more attractive, which must help to establish a process of osmosis between the research system and the economic system, in order to increase not only the number of graduates but also the cultural level of the entrepreneurial class.