Erasmus 8

[3-6-1997]

Caro Emilio, con il permesso della Prof. Isaacs (Universita' di Pisa) ti invio la lettera da lei scritta in risposta agli ormai famosi articoli del Guardian (11 febbraio, "Italian jobs in high places" e 25 marzo, "Unfair Exchange"). Putroppo, nonostante le assicurazioni del Gurdian, la lettera non e' stata ancora pubblicata. Martedi' 20 e' apparsa invece la nostra breve risposta a "Unfair Exchange", ma il lucido e equilibrato intervento della Isaacs merita uguale se non superiore attenzione. Credo che le sue riflessioni siano una degna (saggia) conclusione alle polemiche scatenatesi in questi mesi. Ti sarei dunque molto grato se tu la pubblicassi su LI.

Un saluto molto cordiale

Domenico Fiormonte

To the Editor "The Guardian"

Dear Sir, It has recently been brought to my attention that your prestigious newspaper has published a series of articles attacking the Italian University system; particularly violent criticism is directed at the way it has dealt with ERASMUS students. On reading the texts my first reaction was anger and surprise. As an American with thirty four years of involvement in the Italian University, currently Associate Professor of Renaissance History and ERASMUS-SOCRATES Coordinator for the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Pisa, I have dedicated much of my life to understanding the Italian University system, to attempting to explain it to others, to defending its virtues and attacking what I perceive to be its limits; to learning about other systems and to facilitating international contacts -- as have done and do the majority of my colleagues.

The tone and contents of the articles in question do not do justice to any aspect of the situation. I would be happy to write a full article or a counter-information news service for the "Guardian"; in the limits of a letter to the Editor which has as it primary object suggesting to you and to your readers that scandalism and muckraking is not an adequate or useful way to approach the central problems of education in Europe today, I wish to make a few basic points.

1. European Universities are different. They have developed over centuries in different ways; the students who enter Universities have widely varying levels and kinds of preparation; the societies themselves with which the Universities primarily interact have different social structures and value systems. Universities at present are all struggling to interact more fruitfully with their own changing student population and with that of other countries. The challenge, obviously, as in other sectors as well, is to use European diversity in a constructive way: not to impose one model on the others.

2. All University systems have advantages and disdvantages; often the two are intertwined; only a careful consideration of both should guide opinion and action.

3. The Italian University system developed to give a final degree, the 'laurea', to students who had completed the very selective Classical or Scientific 'Liceo'. This meant 13 years of schooling, of which a large part very selective; knowledge of classical languages and careful preparation in other fields. Today access is broader and the student body has changed. This presents a problem and a challenge. The University was not designed to give basic information, which the student already possessed, but rather to put him or her into direct contact with research and to give him or her the tools of criticism and a critical outlook. Hence in 'humanistic' faculties professors do not lecture, according to Department decisions, on this or that 'course' as described in an existing syllabus or catalogue. Rather each professor, within his or her subject, is expected to lecture each year on a different theme directly connected to ongoing research. In scientific faculties, students, whatever the particular area of their degree, are given a broad scientific preparation. The final dissertation students write to obtain the laurea degree varies in length and complexity in different faculties, but in all it must be an original contribution to research and in many is closer to a PhD. thesis than to a Masters' thesis. For this reason most students require many years to obtain the laurea. Today this University system is fighting to retain its high quality as it responds to the new needs of its student body and to many more or less informed attempts to make it more immediately compatible with other European systems. The problem is to avoid becoming a sort of glorified secondary school such as many European Universities are, and to find ways to continue to give a high level and high quality education which respects the students' legitimate desire to acquire in four or five years training adequate to their professional and human needs.

4. Let us come to the ERASMUS students. My Faculty and I personally have been involved since the beginning in the ERASMUS programme and, particularly, in the European Credit Transfer Pilot Project which was designed to find ways to allow European student exchange with standards of transparency, reciprocal information and trust. The object was to produce a system for all European Universities to use for their exchanges in all subject areas. The project yielded important results; today more than one thousand European Universities are planning to apply ECTS to their SOCRATES-ERASMUS exchanges. During this time we and our students have gained a great deal of knowledge about the ways different Universities work. This has meant new respect and understanding, not only of other European Universities, but also of our own. Having dealt with several hundred ERASMUS students, both 'incoming' and 'outgoing', and having attempted to obtain quantitative data, through questionaires and interviews of both foreign and Italian students in order to learn about their experience and to 'monitor' our programmes, I think it is fair to say that

1. it is always useful for students to go abroad: there is unquestionable benefit in realizing that other societies operate differently, not necessarily better or worse;
2. that Italian students who have been abroad particularly appreciate the efficient organization of most foreign Universities, including those in the UK;
3. that they come back with new respect for our University with its high intellectual standards.

As to our 'incoming' ERASMUS students, we make every attempt to assist them, with a month of orientation before lectures begin, trying to help them understand the system, to organize their study, and with Italian lessons at different levels which continue all year. One result is that during 1996-7 our Faculty has ninety ERASMUS students from all European countries; we truly believe, that, whatever its limits, their direct experience in Pisa will be both different and much better than the 'Guardian' articles suggest. The problem of housing for ERASMUS students does exist: some Italian Universities do have residences for Italian and foreign students; most do not. Pisan students usually live in flats with other students or in rented rooms in private homes. So far, the only way we have been able to help our incoming foreign students has been through voluntary help in gathering information, finding rooms and dealing with landlords. I personally think that, whatever the legal and bureaucratic problems our University should find an official way of dealing with this problem. In the meantime our ex-ERASMUS students from Pisa have formed a 'Coordinamento' to welcome incoming students and to help them find rooms -- because of their own European experience they have given their time and energy to make things better for their foreign counterparts. In my opinion they deserve praise, and represent a positive result of interaction.

To sum up, our University has both faults and merits. One could say the same for all our partners. Careful evaluation and reciprocal knowledge are needed to improve the European educational system. I do not know Domenico Pacitti personally. On the basis of my experience I believe that, for whatever reasons, he has not presented a balanced view of the case. Yours sincerely

Prof. Ann Katherine Isaacs Renaissance History ERASMUS-SOCRATES Coordinator and Dean's Delegate for International Relations Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, University of Pisa

Caro Emilio,

non vorrei fare la parte del pastore sardo o della casalinga di Voghera che, in un memorabile film di Nanni Moretti (certo piu' graffiante degli ultimi), dopo esser stati ripetutamente e genericamente evocati come tipi sociologici di una audience irraggiungibile, si presentano in sala e contestano vivacemente l'autore... Ebbene, si', io sono un graduate student della famosa e famigerata Yale University, uno degli sfruttati del sistema americano, mille volte peggiore di 40 anni di DC (Fiormonte dixit!) Devo confessare che in questi primi due anni ho ricevuto una borsa di studio decentissima, e che non ho avuto nessun obbligo didattico (a differenza di molti campus, qui non si insegna che dal terzo anno, quando si sono finiti i corsi, e quindi con nessuna interferenza con le attivita' di ricerca personale). La mia esperienza di studio e' stata, finora, entusiasmante. Come ha sottolineato anche Alessandro Valori, il rispetto individuale e professionale che i professori qui hanno per gli studenti e' assolutamente ineccepibile, e non voglio insistere troppo su questo lato, che tanto ha sconvolto - per contrasto - i borsisti Erasmus in Italia. Riguardo allo sciopero dei graduate students, sacrosanto, esso ha costretto Yale, in seguito ad una causa del tribunale del lavoro, a riconsiderare tutta la materia, alzando gli stipendi dei Teaching Assistants, seppure non riconoscendo ancora il GESO, il sindacato degli studenti-lavoratori. Non compete a me fare paragoni con la situazione scandalosa dei lettori di lingua in Italia, ma almeno si parli con sincerita' delle differenze di sistema universitario, senza ridicole borie dei dotti e delle nazioni!

Cordialmente

Marcello Simonetta