The article deals with the topic of the school-work relationship in the field of vocational tertiary education: the Higher Technical Institutes. It illustrates the results of a qualitative analysis that INDIRE (the National Institute of Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research which monitors the ITS paths through the national database) carried out to go in depth in this new educational model and understand the opportunities that it offers for employability and innovation. Through the analysis of data coming from over 371 among students, teachers and firm representatives, the tools as well as the organizational, didactic and social practices developed in these contexts are presented and the elements to create a virtuous relationship between the enterprise and the training world are highlighted.