Italy Approves Contested University Overhaul

[Joanne98]

Source: WSJ

ROME—The Italian parliament gave its final approval to an overhaul of the country's university system, a measure that is part of the government's wide-ranging austerity measures and that has sparked weeks of often-violent student protests.

The so-called Gelmini law, nicknamed after Italy's Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini, has been winding itself through parliament for several months. Italy's Senate, or upper house, approved the measures by 161 votes to 98, with six extensions. Italy's President now has to give his final stamp of approval to the law.

Italy's government already plans more than €1 billion ($1.31 billion) in funding cuts for Italy's state-run universities next year. The Gelmini measures aim to make the country's higher education system more meritocratic and improve its standing on the global scale.

Among the changes: universities that perform better - both in terms of academic research and in terms of how fast they get their students into jobs - will get more funds. The measures also include shorter terms for university deans; time limits for aspiring professors to get tenure and incentives to lure private funds to help pay for the state-run institutions.



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703548604576037690099200556.html

[mimitabby]

1. this is a system that has been broken for a LONG time

[LeftishBrit]

2. Ugh. Sounds nasty. And familiar.

When right-wing politicians get their hands on education, you tend to end up with the worst of all worlds: all the bureaucracy and authoritarianism of the so-called 'nanny state', combined with all the insecurity, and emphasis on profits above all else, of the free market.

NCLB for universities, basically. It's bad in the UK, and Berlusconi's version may be even worse.

Glad to hear that the students are protesting.