Newsgroup: it.istruzione.universita
Titolo: Italy plagued by Mafia-style universities

Italy plagued by Mafia-style universities
Italy's corrupt university system has infected the whole country and is now
stone dead, according to Marcello Pera. That was back in 1995 and Pera,
himself a university professor, has since become president of the Italian
Senate. Unfortunately the Italian university system appears to have made no
similar progress
Even though distinguished colleagues say I shouldn't, I still say that these
rigged university competitive examinations are scandalous. It is not that I
am unaware that where there is a system of co-optation there is also the
risk of nepotism and corruption. Nor is it that I do not know that in a
scientific community the boundary between college and clientelism is often
rather elastic. It is because, rigged public examinations aside, the
university is itself a scandal.
To call it thus is already incorrect. Our university system is more properly
a Soviet academy of sciences whose sole function is that of reproducing its
own members (through public examinations), thus granting them a sufficiently
comfortable life (56 million lire a month for full professors who retire at
77 after receiving five years' free salary with no teaching duties),
depriving them of any work that is not bureaucratic and, above all, allowing
them to work little, very little.
A few years ago a precious little book by a courageous teacher, Raffaele
Simone, entitled "University of the Three Betrayals" (Laterza, 1993) caused
a stir. Basically, Simone furnished documentary evidence to show that our
university system betrays its students, who "receive a fourth-order teaching
service", betrays research, which is "at too low a level for our system not
to be defined fallacious", and betrays society because it constitutes a
"permanent violation of the public service". As in a true corporative Soviet
structure where no criticism of the system is permitted, or in a Mafia
"cosca" clan where anyone who challenges the rules pays for the "affront",
Simone himself landed in trouble and was himself accused of being a traitor.
But he was right.
That the blame lies at source, namely within the regime, and not with a few
nepotistic or corrupt professors, may be understood by comparing our own
Soviet-style system with foreign university systems. Do you know when they
start teaching abroad? In America at the end of August or earlier, in Great
Britain in September; throughout the rest of the civilised world lectures
have already begun by October. In Italy it is officially from November 6 and
in practice even later since no one ever keeps a check.
You might say that perhaps we finish later. Well then, do you know how many
hours an Italian professor's course lasts? Fifty. Yes sir: everywhere else
it is 200-250 hours but in Italy 50 hours a year (a year) are enough to keep
the show running. Do not allow yourself to be taken in by stories about
preparation of lectures, hours of reception, meetings, publications, etc. It
is still just fifty hours in class and the course is valid. I there are some
who work a bit more. But that is entirely up to them - the law (note:
Italian law) requires no more than this. For the rest, it obliges you to
sign farcical false documentation in a register (!) which attests that one
has spent 350 hours in the university.
By the way, how many courses does an Italian professor teach? For goodness
sake, he only teaches one since he is appointed to just one subject; he
cannot teach and is not required to teach any others. Abroad they teach an
average of three (related but different subjects) and these are distributed
over at least two periods or "terms": one does the first "term" and then the
exams, one does the second term and then the exams and then comes summer
when one has to work really hard in order to publish (because, as they say,
"publish or perish" - write or else you will be put in a corner or else
sacked).
You might also say: but we also have terms now, at least in some
universities. Well, do you know how our terms or semesters work? This is how
they work: you start in November, you go on ("intensively", they say) until
February (including holidays), then, after the momentous fifty hours, you
stop and then start again in November. If, however, you decide to change
semesters, you finish in February and begin again in march of the following
year. That is how things work from Catania to Milan (inclusive). Semester,
in Italian, means two-and-a-half months. Convenient, isn't it?
We could get ourselves even more worked up by listing the "legal" value of a
degree, degrees that are gifted, our doctorates that are set up and then
abandoned, our researchers for life, low university fees, nonexistent
services, non-computerised libraries, administrative staff who work about as
much as teaching staff, and so on. The result is that we have a university
system that is Third World (international organisations say this) and masses
of students who are abandoned and frustrated, especially, as often happens,
when they are bright.
Can anything be done? No. And even less can be done if we waste time on the
false problem of scandals in competitive exams for tenured posts. The
Italian university no longer exists. It is dead. It has been killed by a
political class that is irresponsible, guilty, short-sighted, homicidal and
suicidal, composed (look at the parliaments of the First Republic and the
Ciampi and Dini governments) especially of university professors. To ask
this political class to provide a remedy for the cemetery it has left behind
is like asking Totò Riina to solve the Mafia problem.
Note: This article was first published in English by JUST Response on 18
August 2003. It originally appeared in the Italian magazine
Panorama under the title "Università corrotta, nazione infetta" on 9
November 1995. We express our grateful acknowledgement to Panorama. Marcello
Pera is a member of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and a professor
of philosophy at the University of Pisa. He has been president of the
Italian Senate since May 30 2001.

scommetto che ti senti molto felice a frequentare l'università ad
austin, texas, piuttosto che trovarti in un qualunque ateneo "from
catania to milan, included", vero?
tu vuo' fa' l'americano... attento a non bere troppo whisky & soda
però.
by the way, 6 andato ieri al superbowl? com'era la jackson dal vivo?

 by the way, 6 andato ieri al superbowl? com'era la jackson dal vivo?
Cosa centra? Cmq, no, costava troppo...