Higher education in Italy may have to wait even longer for reform

Italy’s struggling HE system may be caught in limbo by the uncertainty over the recent election.

The sector is effectively shrinking, with many universities being chronically under-funded and student enrolment falling by around 58,000 over the last nine years. But the struggle to form a coalition government will probably leave the sector without intervention for many months at least.

The main problem is finance: investments in research, professor recruitment and a robust student grant system would all provide a much-needed boost.

Professor Andrea Lenzi, president of the National Italian University Council said: “You can’t think about development [of the sector] with assigning resources to it. But we don't need scattergun funding, and we also need less bureaucracy and more reform of process.”

Read more here from University World News

28/02/13