Thesis Observatory 2026: how students in Rome graduate

Over three and a half years we have printed and bound around 6,000 theses: more than 15,000 copies and over 1.2 million pages that passed through our printers, in the heart of Rome. This archive paints an unprecedented portrait of how students graduate — from the colour of the cover to the month of the defence.

If we had to picture the "typical" thesis cover, it would be blue. One thesis in three chooses this colour, by far the most requested. Green and burgundy follow — two elegant classics — and then red. Many choices depend on the faculty: several universities associate a colour with each degree course.

Most chosen cover colour (% of bound copies):

• Blue — 33.9%
• Green — 18.7%
• Burgundy — 15.9%
• Red — 13.2%
• Pearl white — 8.8%
• Black — 3.8%
• Beige — 2.7%

When it comes to hot-foil stamping the title on the cover, gold wins two to one: 61% of students choose it, against 27% for silver. The most requested cover is the hardback in faux leather (nearly one in two, 49.5%), followed by the cloth-bound and the eco version.

Inside, the average student is pragmatic and eco-minded: 65% print double-sided and 42% choose the whole thesis in black and white. Even among those who keep colour, the pages actually in colour are only 22% of the total: charts and images, not entire chapters. Nobody experiments with the paper — 99% stick to standard paper and almost no one (just over 1%) asks for rush delivery: students get organised, at the last minute but without panic.

Graduation has its seasons. The peaks fall in October (autumn session), March and between June and July (summer session). The month when almost no one graduates? August: fewer than 1% of theses, because between holidays and closed universities the defences stop.

Theses printed by month (% of the annual total):

• January — 4.3%
• February — 5.7%
• March — 12.8%
• April — 8.7%
• May — 10.8%
• June — 11.8%
• July — 10.0%
• August — 0.9%
• September — 3.9%
• October — 13.0%
• November — 8.7%
• December — 9.3%

The question every student asks first. The real average cost of a thesis — printing plus binding — is about € 59, with a median of € 41: half of students spend less than that. The gap between average and median reveals the "extra" theses: many copies, lots of colour pages, premium covers, which push up the average price.

Four factors set the figure: number of pages, copies requested (on average 2-3 per student), share of colour and type of cover. That's why two theses can cost one twice as much as the other.

The data comes from the thesis printing and binding orders handled by GUUG (Rome, Prati district) between 2020 and 2026, both online and in store. The configuration percentages (colours, finishes, printing) refer to orders tracked in our system. The rush-delivery figure is calculated only from May 2026, since when the option has been available, and should therefore be considered indicative. These are aggregated, anonymous statistics: no personal data is involved.

Are you a journalist, blogger or student who wants to cite these numbers? You're welcome to. We only ask you to credit the source with a link to this page. Ready-made citation: Source: GUUG Thesis Observatory 2026 — www.guug.it/post/osservatorio-tesi-2026. For additional data, a high-resolution chart or a comment, write to us at stampa@guug.it.