Erasmus, seconda puntata...

[16-4-1997]

Mi sono arrivati altri messaggi riguardanti lo scandalo Erasmus, che e' poi lo scnadalo dello stato pietoso delle universita' italiane (almeno la discussione si e' postata su questo argomento). Aspetto altri contributi.

da Fabio Ghirelli-Carasi

Ho letto la corrispondenza circa l'articolo sul "Guardian" a proposito del programma ERASMUS. Il professor Oldcorn cita un articolo apparso sul "Chronicle of Higher Education" e, dato che avevo conservato tale articolo, mi e' sembrato cosa utile inviarlo a "Lettere Italiane" per metterlo a disposizione di chi non l'avesse letto. Non so la sua pubblicazione sia una violazione del copyright. La decisione sta all'editor. [E.S. riporto tutte le indicazione del Copyright e della fonte. Non dovrebbero esserci problemi. Me ne assumo tutte le responsabilita'.]

The Chronicle of Higher Education Date: February 21, 1997 Section: International Page: A41

Corruption Is Key Factor in Promotions at Italian Universities
Political traditions and the lack of rules governing academics' outside activities add to the problem
By Burton Bollag
Rome

Eight professors of medicine went on trial here last month, accused of abusing their power as members of a national commission responsible for selecting candidates for full professorships.

Prosecutors said that the eight academics -- the entire membership of the commission in the specialty of ear, nose, and throat medicine -- passed over better-qualified candidates to promote their own relatives and friends.

After opening statements, however, the trial was postponed until later this year. The case has been plagued by delays. The alleged offenses took place in 1988.

In a trial in 1994, two of the three members of a national commission responsible for appointing professors in the field of Italian literature were convicted of similar offenses. A court found that after the commission evaluated candidates for promotion in a 1992 competition, the two members falsified the results to make it appear as if several applicants who had been passed over, and who were their own favored choices, were actually the best qualified. The scandal came to light when the third member of the commission complained to the head of her university, who in turn went to the authorities.

The two guilty professors were sentenced to 18 months in prison; they remain free pending an appeal. Those whom they fraudulently promoted to professorships were forced to relinquish their posts.

Italian prosecutors have investigated and brought charges in many such cases in recent years. While the incidents that received the most attention involved full professorships, academics say the abuses have occurred at all levels. The abuses are said to be most common in law and medicine, but they surface in other disciplines as well. Most, however, go unreported.

Educators and government officials alike say that Italian universities are badly in need of reform. But of all the problems that beset Italian higher education, academics say that the system for promoting professors is one of the most intractable.

"We've had 'clean hands,'" says Armando Gnisci, referring to a slogan used in a national campaign against Mafia infiltration of business and government. "But we are still waiting for clean university departments." An associate professor of Italian literature at the University of Rome ("La Sapienza"), Dr. Gnisci has written widely on the problem. "The whole university system in Italy is sick," he says. "There is too little scholarly competition."

Luigi Berlinguer, Italy's Minister of Public Education and acting Minister of Universities and Research, acknowledges the problem, but insists it is not pervasive. "A small number of professors abuse their power," he says. Even so, the minister has included the promotion system on the list of higher- education problems that he is trying to fix (The Chronicle, February 7).

A former university rector, the minister concedes that higher education in Italy is heavily politicized. It is not uncommon for professors to have close ties to political parties, he says, sometimes using such connections to promote their own careers or to impede reforms that are not in their personal interest. "The number is small," says Dr. Berlinguer of such professors, "but they are influential."

A related problem is the virtual absence of regulations governing the conditions under which full-time academics may be employed outside the university. Giovanni Ragone, Dr. Berlinguer's adviser on higher education, estimates that one- third of all full professors in Italy hold a second job. As a result of their extracurricular employment, many professors, while receiving a full-time university salary, devote little or no time to consultations with students.

While this may be regarded as "only a small type of corruption," Dr. Ragone says it should not be tolerated.

As in many European countries, faculty members at Italy's predominantly state universities are civil servants, hired by their institutions but employed by the state. This fact makes it difficult for the universities to discipline them, which educators say contributes to the abuse.

Students and faculty members at the smaller, regional universities report that some professors who live in major cities rarely show up for their jobs. Even at the country's largest universities, the lack of opportunities for students to meet with professors is one of the most frequent complaints of students. This was confirmed in a nationwide survey of student attitudes conducted by Fondazione Rui, an independent think tank involved in higher-education policy studies. "Students feel professors don't pay enough attention to them," says Carlo Finocchietti, the head of research at the foundation.

Attempts by the state to reform the rules governing the responsibilities and promotion of faculty members have thus far been unsuccessful. While the parliament has considered several proposals in recent years to deal with the problems, it has not been able to reach agreement on any.

The system may soon change, however. In the next six months, parliament is expected to vote on legislation proposed by Minister Berlinguer that would scrap the current promotion system and replace it with one that more closely resembles systems in place in other Western countries.

Now when a university in Italy needs to fill a vacant professorship, it must submit its request to the national commission specializing in that discipline. Only after the commission receives notice of vacancies from several institutions does it organize a competition. It then chooses from among the candidates the same number of winners as there are vacancies, and the institutions may hire only from this pool. Generally, the best universities get their first choice.

Sometimes several years can pass from the time an institution announces a vacancy until it is filled. Typically, competitions for promotion to associate professor are held every four years. But legal challenges have extended that interval to six years, creating a backlog of vacancies. Minister Berlinguer has announced that two new competitions will begin this year.

"The system is unworkable, a scandal," says Roberto Antonelli, who heads the department of Romance languages and literature at La Sapienza. He also is secretary of the University Teachers' Association, a national, pro-reform group established in 1994 and headed by the linguist and novelist Umberto Eco. Dr. Antonelli says the system represents, above all, "a moral problem. The commissions are not responsible to anyone."

Under the new system proposed by Minister Berlinguer, the national commissions would be responsible only for compiling lists of all candidates eligible to apply for vacant posts. When an institution wants to hire a professor, it would form its own selection commission, which would include nationally appointed experts. University officials say such a system would be faster, more responsive to the needs of the institutions, and less susceptible to corruption.

Paolo Blasi, rector of the University of Florence and president of the Italian Rectors' Conference, supports the minister's proposal. He says institutions themselves should be responsible for selecting those who will fill their vacancies. "The eventual goal is no national involvement," he says.

Dr. Antonelli says the majority of the country's 48,000 academics support Minister Berlinguer's reform efforts.

Felice Froio, a retired journalist and author who has covered Italian education for decades, is more skeptical. A few years ago he published a series of articles in a leading daily, Corriere della sera, alleging corruption in the selection of a reportedly unqualified candidate for a professorship in the history of medicine at the University of Cassino. The successful candidate sued for libel. The case is still in the courts.

"Professors are beginning to turn against these practices," says Mr. Froio. "But the majority still say: 'Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to help my former assistant get a post.'"

Copyright (c) 1997 by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc. http://chronicle.com Title: Corruption Is Key Factor in Promotions at Italian Universities Published: 97/02/21

10 BLEECKER ST. # 3A NEW YORK, NY 10012 Tel/Fax (212) 47

Sempre sullo scandalo Erasmus, che per altro non conoscevo.

Anch'io vorrei dire la mia su questa questione che sembra infiammare gli animi. Ora evidentemente è possibile che il Prof. Lepsky abbia ragione nel dire che l'articolo sul Guardian fa parte di una campagna diffamatoria organizzata dai lettori...non ho letto l'articolo e non ho dati al riguardo, perciò per il momento mi astengo dal commentare. Vorrei solo dire che la condizione dei lettori è una delle tante annose questioni della nostra università, questione peraltro già annosa quando ancora io studiavo a Bologna--alcuni anni fa.

Vorrei però dire qualcosa in merito alle accuse mosse al nostro sistema universitario: mi sembra che meravigliarsi delle accuse sia quantomeno un po' ingenuo poiché francamente prima o poi c'era da aspettarselo. Ma cari colleghi, non è forse vero che in ben troppi casi i docenti italiani sono indifferenti nei confronti degli studenti? non è forse vero che le lezioni spesso vengono svolte in situazioni impossibili ai limiti della decenza? non è forse vero che la burocrazia italiana è borbonica e incomprensibile alle larghe masse? per quanto riguarda la qualità dell'insegnamento, questa ovviamente dipenderà dai casi, ma ha anche a che vedere con la distanza che i docenti spesso costruiscono tra se e gli studenti.

Quello che intendo dire, è che al di là dell'usuale atteggiamento di superiorità che spesso caratterizza i nostri amici oltre Manica, non dovrebbe però stupirci che nel momento in cui si decide di aprire le frontiere e divenire parte di un blocco socio-politico ed economico, si aprano anche i rubinetti della critica a una delle nostre istituzioni, forse la più fatiscente e bisognosa di intervento e di cambiamento.tra l'altro, non è forse questo che tanti di noi dicono da anni e forse hanno sempre detto?

Inoltre, rispetto a commenti simili espressi dalla stampa americana, in parte la giustificazione risiede forse in quanto detto nel paragrafo precedente; in parte però forse ha anche a che vedere col fatto che tradizionalmente l'accademia italiana non è stata disponibile a rapporti di scambio vero e proprio (ovviamente non mi riferisco agli studenti soltanto). Cioè finché si concepiscono i rapporti in senso unilaterale, non ci si deve aspettare che poi critiche vengano mosse all'intero sistema. O almeno così mi pare.

Manuela Gieri University of Toronto

da Marcello Simonetta

Caro Emilio,

manca ancora una voce italiana che dica onestamente come stanno le cose: perche' dobbiamo sempre farci dire dagli altri cosa siamo? Questo e' il peggiore difetto nazionale, ahime'.

Sullo scandalo Erasmus cito dal messaggio del prof. Anthony Oldcorn:

"Non conosco Fiormonte né le sue opinioni, ma la sua lettera (dettata mi sembra dal suo orgoglio nazionale) suggerisce che qualsiasi critica al sistema universitario italiano--che non venga da un italiano-- sia il malevolo frutto o di un inveterato razzismo nei confronti degli italiani "

Mimmo Fiormonte invece io lo conosco. Non e' tenero di solito col nostro sistema universitario, ma non e' tenero nemmeno col sistema americano che conosce bene dall'interno. Forse ha un'opinione migliore di quello britannico (ma lui stesso - credo - dira' quello che pensa). Ritengo invece (conoscendo Mimmo) che si sia seccato per il tono di quell'articolo del "Guardian". Santo cielo, non e' cosi' grave dire cose poco meditate, sull'onda di un'emozione! :-))))

"o peggio ancora di una improbabile congiura di aspiranti lettori inglesi privati dal godimento della combinazione MARE PIZZA SOLE GELATI SPAGHETTI MANDOLINO che l'Italia rappresenterebbe per loro come per gli studenti ERASMUS che vengono dall'Inghilterra in Italia con la trasparente scusa di volere studiare. Direi che chi vuole criticare i pregiudizi degli altri farebbe bene a nascondere un po' meglio i propri"

Qui vorrei segnalare che Mimmo non dice quello che il prof. Oldcorn gli attribuisce. Riporto il testo di Mimmo:

"But most students returning from a year in Italy would not have missed it for the world. [PER QUALI RAGIONI L'ARTICOLISTA NON LO DICE, MA NON E' DIFFICILE IMMAGINARLE: MARE PIZZA SOLE GELATI SPAGHETTI MANDOLINO]"

Mimmo rileva che l'articolo incriminato prima riporta le critiche spietate al sistema italiano, poi pero' osserva che gli studenti britannici dichiarano comunque di aver fatto in Italia un'esperienza davvero molto importante. Mimmo sostiene che il giornale avrebbe dovuto a questo punto domandarsi il perche', nonostante le critiche, i lettori stranieri siano comunque soddisfatti del loro soggiorno da noi. Siccome il giornale non lo fa, per Mimmo questa e' la prova che in realta' nell'autore dell'articolo opera il pregiudizio sull'Italia "pizza, sole, mandolino, etc" che molti in Europa nutrono su di noi. (E figuratevi che effetto fa a me, milanese, un'idea dell'italia cosi', diciamo, assolata, noi che abbiamo il sole in piazza poche volte e il resto e' pioggia che ci bagna). Forse Mimmo si sbaglia, non so. Ma questo penso fosse quello che intendeva dire. O almeno cosi' l'ho capito io.

Cordialita'.

Nanda Cremascoli