A credit must be recognized without doubt the minister Gelmini reform and its approval in parliament in recent days in the classrooms. After years of too marked by numbness and sometimes opportunistic un'accondiscendenza resigned to a university policy confused, contradictory and ever more generous with resources, a large number of teachers, researchers and university students are demonstrating their opposition to force the bill. And how blame them? The measure that the government intends to adopt has many weaknesses and looks set to create new problems rather than solving those, though not negligible, which is already facing our university. Three examples.
First, the reform does not solve the dilemma between autonomy and central control. For years he supports the need to abolish the legal value of qualifications (need to be made stronger by the recent proliferation of private universities, for the legal recognition of which should be sufficiently stringent), and giving wide autonomy to universities, and then reward virtuous behavior by attributing to the universities 'good' more money. Gelmini The bill does not affect the legal value of degrees and to take some steps towards rewarding, requires a substantial increase in enforcement activity by the Ministry Education, Universities and Research and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, however, leaving the definition of how such control in subsequent decrees (as well as many other subjects).
Second, it paints a very convincing reform of governance alternative to the current one in which the problem of self-teachers would be solved by strengthening the powers of the rector (who was no coincidence, the only charge is not subject to decline with the approval of the reform), a significant increase in the proportion of board members from outside the university, chosen "from among persons Italian or foreign possess proven expertise in the management field or high-level professional experience "and the appointment of a chief executive (usually the manager ) with" the higher powers. " But how can you be sure that the proposed remedy to the problem of agency that comes dall'autogoverno professors is not worse than the disease? Because the super-chancellor should be less inclined to look after their own interests? Given that, given the paucity of resources, payments of deans, directors and managers will necessarily be small, who will manage the university? What are the incentives of these? We meet again the usual politicians and friends of politicians (as in ASL, so to speak)?
third example, probably the most important: tenure track. The reform is concerned with redefining the status of the researcher, according to Anglo-Saxon model and other countries, which typically provides for the role of the researcher reports a fixed term, renewable up to the tenure (permanent), with the intent to reduce the space for annuities offered by the "safe place" for the lazy (which is, to our knowledge, there are certainly more numerous among researchers and between professors and associates). This is not the flexibility of contract fixed the problem. Most Italian researchers have now faces even long periods of "instability" after graduation and doctorate, also agreeing to emigrate temporarily or permanently with a fixed term research contracts. The critical aspect is the scarcity and uncertainty of available resources for the future careers of young researchers. The reform will inevitably lengthen the time of tenure , subordinated to the substance (at least in theory) but also the availability of resources "under full financial sustainability." The poor state of Italian public finances, the lack of political sensitivity towards needs and the discomfort of the research, the thinness of a "market" is not enabled for internal calls from their universities questioning the desirability of this measure. With a salary which remains one of the researcher for an indefinite period, the greatest risk introduced by the reform makes, especially the younger ones, even less attractive research career and relatively more remunerative alternative employment to countries ol'emigrazione offer better conditions and greater satisfaction, with likely serious consequences not only Italian but also on the university and society.
Anna and Domenico Scalera Nifo
(originally appeared on: nelmerito.com , December 3, 2010)
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