Mobilizing minds” “

An appeal to promote “greater investments” in the European universities has been made in recent days by Jan Figel , European Commissioner for education, training, culture and multilingualism, during his first official visit to Italy. The aim, said Figel, is that the Lisbon objectives “be not only on the agenda of Brussels”, but on that of “all the countries of the 25-member Europe”, thanks to “coherent processes of reform” at the national and international level. After the two “no” votes to the ratification of the Constitution and the failure of the last European Summit, said the European Commissioner, it needs to be emphasized that “the European Union is more European after enlargement”, but this process, if it is to continue, has a need for “more mature” countries “to be able to give more credible responses for our future”. As for the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty, Figel recalled that “each country decides for itself, but after two rejections greater reflection and closer communication with citizens are urgently needed, starting out from the consciousness that Europe is a community of peoples, not just an economic and institutional community”. Meanwhile, the third European Symposium of University Teachers, on the theme “Ora et labora : work in Europe”, is in progress in Rome, from 30 June to 30 July. The meeting will be opened by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. During the symposium – which will conclude with a document addressed to the European scientific community – a research project on the “great ethical and social demands of labour”, conducted by 90 universities in 30 European countries, will be presented. “AGEING OF TEACHERS”, LACK OF FUNDS AND “BRAIN DRAIN”. In a Europe still “in difficulty” in withstanding the competition of the USA – continued Figel – measures are needed “to increase the appeal of the universities, such as recognition at the European level and the international validity of European university qualifications and a greater correspondence of the educational offer to the real needs of the labour market”. Among the problems that the universities are having to cope with, the EU Commissioner cited that of the ageing of university staff: “Almost 50% of teachers in Italian universities are over the age of 50, and the same is the case in Germany – noted Figel –, whereas it is calculated that in ten years time Europe will need a million new teachers”. “Facilitating the access to a university career of young lecturers and young researchers” is another imperative that should be kept in mind in European university strategies, insisted Figel, in reply to a question about the phenomenon (typically Italian) of the brain drain, in a period in which “the lack of funds threatens the competitiveness of higher education and research”. The countries of the 25-member Europe, announced the EU Commissioner, will present their “national plans” in the autumn. The aim is to implement the objective fixed at Lisbon in 2000: that of realizing a “knowledge-based Europe” by 2010. SOME DATA. According to the data contained in the document “Mobilizing European minds: enabling the universities to make a full contribution to the Lisbon strategy”, adopted by the European Commission last April, in Europe only 21% of the working population has higher education, in contrast to 38% in the USA, 43% in Canada and 36% in Japan. The lower “yield” in Europe is also linked to a substantial disparity in funding: the countries of the EU spend on average 1.1% of their GDP on higher education, which is equivalent to the percentage in Japan, but well below the level of Canada (2.5%) and the USA (2.7%). To equal the overall expenditure of the USA on higher education – that is the thesis of the document – Europe ought to spend 150 billion euros more each year. One of the main differences – explains the European Commission – consists in the fact that European higher education continues almost exclusively to reply on public funds (limited), while in our competitor countries a more vigorous and enduring development has been permitted by a greater variety of sources of funding, with far higher contributions by businesses and the private sector in general. The document identifies three priority objectives for the reform of the European universities: “raising their quality and making them more attractive; improving their governance and systems; boosting and diversifying their funding (with or without a substantial contribution by students themselves”.