One works as an Intelligence Analyst within the World Bank in Washington DC, one is employed as a Data Analyst for Euronet in Amsterdam, and one, after various international experiences, has returned to Italy, summoned by the Ministry of the Interior to deal with migration policy management at national and European level. These are just some of the international careers of Alumnae in Philosophy, International and Economic Studies (PISE) at Ca' Foscari: Beatrice Fratini, Ginevra Ruzzene and Anita Bonollo.
Like most of their Ca' Foscari colleagues, Beatrice, Ginevra and Anita have found work in highly international sectors. Years after graduating, and despite the many experiences in different countries, they are still in touch with each other and with a solid group of former coursemates. Here is what they told us about their experiences, starting from their training years at Ca' Foscari.
Beatrice
My name is Beatrice Fratini and I graduated in Philosophy, International and Economic Studies (PISE) at Ca' Foscari in 2019 with a thesis on climate change and the Paris Agreement. My concern about the current and future effects of global warming on our planet led me to enrol at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. There I obtained a Master's degree in Political Science: Global Environmental Governance in 2020. Once I graduated, I took part in an internship for a situational awareness monitoring platform and started to get interested in intelligence and security.
I moved to the United States in 2022 and currently work as an Intelligence Analyst at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where I write intelligence reports and monitor security-related events, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters, around the world.
Ca' Foscari has been a formative experience in many respects: it has made me meet friends who I know will remain friends for life, with whom I have studied and prepared for exams and also talked about the future. PISE and Ca' Foscari provided an eclectic education allowing me to excel in international and diverse environments.
Opportunities arise in life and sometimes change the direction of your life. I advise all students not to be scared but to take advantage of them. You never know where some choices outside your comfort zone may take you.
Ginevra
My name is Ginevra Ruzzene, and I am a former Ca’ Foscari student now working as an Index Data Analyst in Amsterdam, at Euronext N.V., the group of leading European stock exchanges. I was born in 1997 and graduated in 2019 in Philosophy, International and Economic Studies (PISE) at Ca' Foscari, with a thesis on "Austrian unemployment: a survivor to the Global Financial Crisis”. In 2022 I also graduated in Economics, Econometrics and Finance, thanks to the Double Degree programme bringing together Ca' Foscari and Université Aix-Marseille. My Master’s degree thesis is entitled 'Seasonal Equity Carry Trades between the US and the UK'.
Ca' Foscari allowed me to chart my own course in both international institutions and finance. During my Bachelor's at PISE, I gained a strong foundation of knowledge on European institutions, global geopolitical dynamics, and the key pillars of today's societies: politics, philosophy, and economics. After completing my three-year course, I specialised in economics. Thanks to the Finance course and the double degree programme, I was able to further develop my understanding by focusing on technical areas such as econometrics and statistics, as well as the global role of financial markets.
Thanks to the opportunity to combine PISE international studies with financial studies, I was able to kickstart my career in Europe's leading financial infrastructures. Ca' Foscari has a wide range of partnerships with foreign universities, which allowed me to gain valuable experiences across Europe. I participated in the double degree programme, experiencing the French system and enjoying Provence. Additionally, I had an Erasmus+ experience at the Management Center Innsbruck in Austria, which is a leading school in an ideal location for a passionate skier like me. These experiences not only satisfied my craving for new experiences but also expanded and diversified my knowledge.
Thanks to my university course, I had the opportunity to do a Traineeship at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which is the European Union's financial market supervisory authority based in Paris. During my one-year tenure there, I worked as a Data Analyst, where my main responsibility was to monitor the quality of data reported by European financial entities. This role required a combination of my knowledge of European law acquired during my three-year degree and the statistical and programming skills I gained during my master's degree. Following my time at ESMA, I transitioned to Euronext Amsterdam to join the Index Operations team as a Data Analyst. In this role, I am responsible for monitoring the structure and performance of all market indices issued by the Euronext group on a daily basis.
One thing I have learned during my five years at Ca' Foscari is to always stay curious, remain hungry for knowledge, and seize every opportunity that comes my way. Throughout my career, nothing has been as precious as my passion for learning and exploring new things. I also encourage those currently in the midst of their studies, as well as recent graduates, to never become complacent, always be ready for new challenges, and approach each new adventure with confidence in their abilities and a willingness to learn.
Anita
My name is Anita Bonollo, and, like most people, when I chose what to study at university, I felt that my choice was, to some degree, random. I came from a language studies background and the only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to create an international career for myself. I wanted to speak foreign languages, travel a lot and get to know people different from me. I wanted to know, study and understand distant cultures and ways of living different from what I was used to. I wanted to hear new ideas, visions and thoughts.
That is how I enrolled in the Philosophy, International and Economic Studies programme, and was hooked from the start. As my first exam I took Logic I. I got my first 28. Immediately after that came the Politics exam, the subject I felt most prepared for. Instead, among the thousand systems of government, the various levels of administration and the different ways of composing the chambers of a parliament, I had to study hard. The professor said: you must know current affairs, read the newspapers, read “Internazionale”! Well, to this day I still subscribe to that magazine. In my second year, I decided it was time to partake in the most iconic university experience abroad: Erasmus. After sending my application, I headed to Belgium, specifically Université Catholique de Louvain, located 20km from Brussels. For six months, I studied European law, economics, and politics at the heart of the EU. As this experience came to an end, I felt that I did not want to return to Italy. When it came to deciding what to do after my Bachelor's degree, the only thing I knew was that I wanted to remain abroad. I spent a lot of time researching on the Internet, browsing through the best universities, different degree courses, and double degree programmes, until I realised that I had to trust my instincts and choose a place that I loved because that was going to be the place where I would settle down and work after my studies. After graduation, I enrolled in the Master's degree in International Political Economy at King's College London; I said goodbye to my parents again and left. It was September 2019, and I was starting my new life in an unfamiliar city, with different friends and a shared flat. After six months of settling in, I was finally starting to get the hang of things in London. However, in March 2020, I rushed back to Italy on one of the last flights from London and locked myself in with my family to understand the situation with the now famous COVID-19. I finished my Master's degree remotely, attending the last classes and taking my final exams online. I had planned to stay in London after finishing my Master's degree, but instead, I had to start over in Italy. After many online applications, hand-delivered CVs, and a few unsuccessful interviews, I found a job in Rome working with the Public Administration on European funds and migration. Three and a half years later, I am happily living in Rome and working as a consultant for EY in the public sector. My work involves supporting the governance and management of migration policy at both national and European levels at the Ministry of the Interior.
I am uncertain about where I will be in five years, but I am content with my decisions and the people I have encountered. Some have unintentionally and some intentionally aided me in developing my career, helping me understand what I aspire to become. I am grateful to Ca' Foscari for its role in guiding me through these choices. Thanks to the high-calibre professors, new opportunities, events, and various encounters at Ca' Foscari and PISE, I have been provided with all the possibilities to shape the path that suits me best.
Philosophy, International, and Economic Studies (PISE) is a multidisciplinary programme with a strong international focus that combines critical philosophical perspectives with economic, historical, and legal knowledge. PISE alumni, alumnae, and current students have created an online community to network, share opportunities, and collaborate on initiatives, including a LinkedIn group and a WhatsApp group. These three young graduates from Ca' Foscari are also part of Ca’ Foscari Alumni, an association that promotes the identity of graduates from Ca' Foscari University and fosters a network of people and competencies.
