Italian brain drain like food and fashion exports

A letter from Romano Rinaldi, Perugia

Dear Editor,

As a long-standing correspondent in the Aliaga case, I found your interview [Doctoral torture, JUST Response, Dec 21 2002] very interesting. I consider it to be both an accurate account of the case and a merciless accusation of the shortcomings of the Italian university (and political) system at the time that terrible experience began almost sixteen years ago.

I am not implying that such things would never happen nowadays, but I expect they would be far less likely to occur than at that time when the doctorate system was still a relative novelty in many Italian universities and students' rights had very few safeguards within the rules and regulations of the university system. In this respect I would like to ask David Aliaga to allow me the paradox of thanking him for having contributed to this positive evolution. I entìrely agree with his statement, "I believe in the power of ideas and how they have changed and continue to shape the world".

Things are still far from perfect at Italy's universities and their relations with the government have not improved. This is attested by the unprecedented case in Italian history of the recent formal resignation of all the rectors of our 77 universities following the imposition of economic restrictions in the 2003 financial budget approved by the Italian parliament. However, the struggle for a more democratic system continues and most academics are well aware of the changes required and are now less reluctant to accept and promote them, as the recent introduction of the "Berlinguer-Zecchino" reform suggests.

I would like to add a comment on the ongoing debate concerning the "brain drain" from the Italian university system. This debate was recently picked up by the Italian media and also by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi himself as a result of some highly resonant cases. According to some of the comments voiced by government authorities and university professors, the Italian "brain drain", which is mostly directed towards North America, should be considered from a quite different perspective. After all, the Italian university system is still good enough to be able to produce knowledge and expertise that can be exported to highly developed countries, just as happens in the fields of fashion and food.

I therefore suggest that David Aliaga should regard himself as one of those lucky stars produced by the Italian university system and exported to a highly developed country. He should take this as a piece of black humour which will, I hope, have the effect of bringing a smile to his face.

Note: This letter was published by JUST Response on January 9 2003.

Return to top

Return to opening page