a month and a half will end my educational experience at the Polytechnic University Milan. I have to admit that this was something more positive experience. They have been years in which I grew as a person, thanks to those who gradually have accompanied me along this path and through the university itself. were year by year tangible improvements to teaching and services provided by the university, among others to remember For example the spread of the wireless network in all buildings of the university. Like me, many other thousands of guys would definitely ready to endorse what I say. Well, also one of the world educational excellence as the Polytechnic of Milan, which boasts a direct comparison with the best international universities will be swept under the 133/08 cuts going to affect his prestige and quality of its training, work, research. It was here I learned to make the engineer and follow the simple belief that to do a thing done well you have to follow a few simple steps: framing the problem, prior reconnaissance of the situation, monitoring, targeted intervention where identified in the preceding paragraphs, monitoring and comparing the results of the intervention. It goes without saying that it would be a dream just expect something similar from political (and technical assist?), But perhaps this is too much.
Today I received a mail from my dean (the head of engineers), the following. I think it's worth stopping 10 minutes to read it.
Dear students and students of the Politecnico di Milano,
In these days I have received many messages from you.
In them are questions aimed at trying to better understand the current situation, I expressed concern You young people and the future of our University.
We are many, including more than 2,500 teachers, technicians and administrators, nearly 40,000 students: we can not all come together.
then I'll use the web to put at your disposal and I know I've learned over the years, focusing points are not always appear clear in the confused debate that the media present to us. I'll try to find your doubts and answer your questions. Present my views and the path we are taking, will finish with some conclusions.
decrees Gelmini
the press, in many banners, in events refer two completely different realities: the proposal of the Minister Gelmini on Elementary school and the law 133/08 concerning the containment of public spending, the text of which follows the proposals by Minister Tremonti.
will entertain only the second that also covers University.
Law 133/08 on expenditure restraint applies to all government, from ministries to the regions, the municipalities to the police, the universities in all the many entities that are predominantly funded by the state.
The reductions proposed are vague and indiscriminate, regardless of differences of functions, tasks and results the different types of administrations.
As relates to public universities like ours, the two most important consequences of this law passed before August 2008 are as follows:
- a reduction of state funding the university system (FFO = Ordinary Financing Fund ) from the 2010 budget (ie from 1 January 2010);
- the drastic reduction in turnover (every 10 people who retire, he can enter only two until 2012 and then 5 from 2013)
- the possibility of transform universities into private foundations.
state funding the university system
Each year the Finance establishes the amount of Ordinary Financing Fund (FFO), that is the money going to the State University System. This amount is available to the Ministry for distribution among the different universities. The sum has grown from 1995 to 2005 and is virtually static for three years. Is now worth around 7 billion euro. The law provides for a reduction of about 20% in three years of that amount without considering that, in our country, funding to the University is among the lowest in Europe. (Just look at the OECD). We must fight
that this reduction is not done: this is made difficult not only by the global economic situation is worsening day by day, but also by non-uniformity and the credibility of the current university system.
There are good universities that have used their autonomy and other less well.
There are universities that have invested to improve services to students and research facilities, others have only hired people, sometimes trampling on the others.
But you can do with all the same brush, otherwise you end up saying that nothing works .
The effects of cutting funding can be attributed to two different types.
The first relates to those universities that have exaggerated recruitment of staff and staff now have a cost that eats almost their entire state budget (you may have heard that the ratio of personnel costs, FFO for each university should not exceed 90%, there are universities that have passed such a relationship, that with the salary adjustments will continue to increase this ratio). These universities, where the law was kept intact, they are intended, those who suffered, those two - three years to fail because it will no longer be able to pay their employees.
The second relates to those universities, like ours, which, although having increased over the years, their staff, technical and administrative, have been careful not to charge by spending commitments would be too burdensome (Politecnico di Milano has fixed costs of personnel 67% of FFO compared to a national average of 86 %) and used the difference to invest in equipment, infrastructure, creation and improvement of services. Faced with a cut of state funding, these universities are not condemned to failure, but will have to reduce costs and services. Those who, like us, has done any kind of rationalization and economy, we should try in every way possible to maintain the quality of all services that make you appreciate our University.
I am confident that, under severe economic downturns, the government should revise its decisions, at least in respect of those universities that have demonstrated their ability to well manage the resources allocated to them. If you insist
in its decision, it will mean that the government want to kill our universities, bringing our country to become a vassal of other nations, particularly those that are investing a lot in training and research.
The reduction in turnover
The reduction required by law to turn over perhaps stems from a purely economic reasoning, but does not consider the consequences are devastating for everyone.
The reasoning is as follows: reduce the people, thus reducing the cost of salaries and therefore compensate for this reduction with the least funding. To support this reasoning leads to defects in the system: recruitment methods are not always blameless, the proliferation of degree courses set up to better meet the interests of the teachers training needs of students, scarcity of teachers in universities, inability to self govern properly, and lack of self-assessment. Basically you helped to create a slogan that is unfortunately taking root in public opinion: the government is expensive and inefficient, the university is a government agency, so the university is inefficient and wasteful.
E 'reasoning that fight for 5 years and that is not easy to challenge because the public increasingly concerned about the negative aspects that are submitted that the positive ones. Just a scam to a medical test in a university to say that all universities are cheating, taking just a chat to say that all university competitions are rigged, just say that a university has discovered a hole in its budget to say that the public university system has failed.
The taste of generalization unfortunately now characterizes all, many are content to just slogans, just like to know more before you speak.
The law is devastating because it affects everyone indiscriminately and unfairly. Who has limited the number of assumptions, who made a careful planning of the new generations will be affected forever.
The law dramatically affects all young people who now work together in various capacities with the teachers (graduate students, post doc, research fellows) and counted one day not too far away to get into a stable position in college.
Ultimately you have to fight to change the legislative decision because it is deeply unfair, because it cuts the legs of the generational change, because it affects the expectations young people, because it goes exactly in the opposite direction to the recognition of merit, because it weakens the university in an irreversible way, without the input of young people become old and obsolete in a few years.
The possibility of transforming the universities into private foundations
It 'been said in many speeches that the article of law that allows state universities to become private foundations and does not say how, and with the participation of those that is so vague as to be unenforceable, that, with it, announcing a change in strategy by the Government in respect of the system Italian training and research.
Let's reason about a minute. A university could become the foundation if, alongside the State, act of private partners willing to financially support the University.
The Hon. Mauro, vice president of the European Parliament, was asked recently at a conference: where can you find a contractor so crazy to charge the burden of contributing financially to the running costs of a university or school that, by definition, are not able to return profits? Which private investment can grant?
You could think of a foundation that sees the State, Region, Province, with City Bank and Foundation Associations different. You forget that you must share a greater private contribution of 50% to allow for "private" foundation, and then to make it independent of the rules imposed by the containment of public spending (the famous Maastricht criteria).
E 'unthinkable that banking institutions are largely replaced the state annually to finance the system of education and research, and then universities.
There are other alternatives around the world work because the universities receive their funding requirements or the prevailing social group or the direct contribution of the students. In the first case the University is characterized as public, in depending on how private (in Italy is called the first state, the second non-state).
The first model considers mainly the advantage of training and research in the service of competitiveness of the whole social community. The second model takes into account the overriding advantage of the individual (student or company) who receives the opportunity to increase their personal rivalry.
in Europe is certainly the first model so prevalent that the majority of university students attending public universities (in Italy are now 94%).
What do
remains a year to try to overturn the situation and certainly we can not wait until the last months of 2009 to succeed. On the other hand it is clear that uncoordinated actions can only be unnecessary and counterproductive.
I think everyone, before participating in any initiative should not argue on the basis of their feelings, but rationally evaluating the possible consequences.
Let me explain with an example: the current spontaneous demonstrations can be considered exciting by those who participate for their high media profile, but monitoring of their consequences seems to show that the public is growing discomfort and hence the strengthening of the most contrary to our universities. This makes it even less shared by the majority of people attempting to mitigate the effects of the law and maintain our public university system. Rather become more shared any act aimed at penalizing our universities.
What needs to be done now, all together, it mostly concerns the internal politics of the universities. It 'more than ever necessary that each university to respond, as quickly as possible, moved to the criticisms that are across the board, or for demonstration or be free to change their behavior.
What are these critics?
a) Universities are accused of proliferated degree programs and lessons to facilitate the wishes of teachers. We must restructure the teaching so as to distribute more and more dedicated to the principle of the centrality of effective training of the pupil and its practical ability to find satisfactory employment opportunities.
b) Universities are accused of dissipating time and money in a useless and expensive research which is intended only for academic careers of those who produce it. It should promote more research in the service of our country's international competitiveness and therefore we must fight to ensure that the government should promote the recognition of the quality and merit further evaluation of reliable similar to those now common in many European countries.
c) Universities are accused of following processes lack transparency in the recruitment of young people and teachers in career progression. It should promote a system of assessment that lead to quality from an objective parameters and innovative procedures in the recruitment of teachers and the inclusion of young people.
d) Universities are accused of excessively proliferated their teaching sites. It should promote a review of macro-regional or regional distribution of its training and research interests of the territories, also developing strong interaction and integration between universities with a view of complementarity;
s) Universities are accused of having a corporate vision in their mode of government. We must bear witness to the commitment to change its governance structure of inner self in order to avoid drifts through a clear separation between the address of the educational and scientific activities, responsibilities and resource management;
f) Universities are accused of failing to verify the commitment of their teachers in teaching and research. There must increasingly required to ensure compliance with a code of ethical conduct, even measuring the productivity of their faculty
So what to do to the outside?
We must fight to convince all the universities to take steps in these directions. We must fight because some imbocchino this road right away, hoping to set an example for others. We must get in front of the country in a discussion of transparency and objectivity. Must be willing to deal with experts from the Ministry of Economy and Finance on their budgets and management policies adopted, overcoming every form of self-reference.
As you see we must take a narrow road and difficult climb that requires effort from everyone and especially respect for the institution.
The Politecnico di Milano, along with other universities, can already show that it is free from many of the criticisms that I mentioned above and have already made the decision to implement processes that allow for further improvements.
We, the Rector of this University, we have the task of fighting on different tables to ensure that the government can recognize the usefulness of these measures, to convince him to sign a "stability pact", a program agreement individualized University by university, which grants funding Decent against specific targets to be achieved in teaching, research, management.
Conclusions
Together with other rectors'm fighting in all directions that I have outlined, I need the support of all of you and especially students.
If they get clear signals from government to non-availability for discussion along the lines that I have indicated, then it will clear its will also affect the universities more open to change and their rectors will be forced to take all necessary steps to avoid the catastrophe of the entire public university system in the country.
We can not lose the battle to improve the international competitiveness of our country, competitiveness necessary to ensure a future for all Vol
I remain at your disposal to explore the themes that interest you most, to confront you, convinced that only through dialogue we can build a better future of our university.
Giulio Ballio
Rector
