The strategic role of academic research and higher education for the future of our country

17.00 pm
Where: Department of Economics and Management, via Inama, Trento - Conference room

On 21 March, all Italian universities will host public meetings and discussions to reaffirm the strategic role of research and higher education for the future of our country.

The funding of the Italian university system has been cut continually since 2008 and, as a consequence, more than 10,000 full professor and researcher positions were lost.

The continuous cuts to the universities’ block funding and the lack of secure public and private investments have made it impossible to launch new research and higher education programmes, to invest in services and activities for students and in internationalization (thus weakening the already precarious right to education, which is causing a decrease in the number of students and graduates), and to enhance the contribution of the technical and administrative structure. That resulted, above all, in the inability to recruit young and deserving students, the freezing of careers and professional growth opportunities, a remuneration system that discourages the best to stay and pushes away young talents and foreign scholars.

However, despite all that, the value and the scientific competitiveness of our universities are still strong. And our universities are, of all public administrative bodies, financed based on standard cost and the results of scientific evaluations.

Our country is not sufficiently aware of the value of its universities, even on the international stage, nor of the risk of compromising a system that, in spite of everything, is still working. 

The purpose of the events of 21 March 2016 , launched by the CRUI (Conference of the Rectors of Italian Universities) and supported by all Italian universities, is to foster a new era for research and for Italian universities.

The proposals and ideas put forward at the events of 21 March at Italian universities will be collected and included in a document that the CRUI will submit to the government.

The programme of events in Trento

Moderator:

• Gabriele Carletti - RAI journalist, Trento division

Introductory presentation:

• Flavio Deflorian - the University’s vice rector with mandate to support the business sector

Short CRUI video

Speakers:

• Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer OECD LEED Trento Centre for Local Development (in English)
  "Research marketing for the economic development of a country" 

• Annalisa Murgia - president of the committee of PhD candidates and research fellows of the University of Trento 

Experiences and proposals of young researchers to encourage the relevance of research for the economic development and competitiveness of a country. 

With the participation of:

• Matteo Benelli, physicist and research fellow in computational biology, CIBIO, Centre of Integrative Biology, University of Trento 
• Arianna Bentenuto, psychologist and research fellow, ODFLab, department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento 
• Lorena Cebolla, research fellow in political philosophy, department of Humanities, University of Trento 
• Alessandro Tomasi, research fellow in mathematics, department of Mathematics, University of Trento 
• Serena Bressan - research fellow in criminology, faculty of Law, University of Trento  

Discussion and conclusion