Growth in Italy depends partly on attracting the best minds from abroad to our universities, Minister Giulio Terzi underscored in his welcome message, read by Under-Secretary Marta Dassù, at the conference “Networks and agencies for internationalization in Europe” organized at the foreign ministry in Rome by Uni-Italia, an agency created to attract Chinese students to Italy.
Terzi underscored that “an increasingly international university system” would result in “positive fallout for the entire country system in terms of talent influx, technology transfers and strengthening the international university system and links with other countries”. He pointed out that “thanks to the synergies” generated between institutions, universities and Uni-Italia, there had been a “considerable increase” – more than 11,000 since 2008 – in the number of Chinese students at our universities.
Minister for Education Francesco Profumo noted that Italy was still “behind” the rest of Europe, and needed “an agency to attract foreign students that would be capable of collaborating with those institutions, to work on improving recruitment practices and hospitality for those wishing to study in our country and to create a structured professional fabric”.
Other countries that Italy considers a priority focus for internationalisation efforts include Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea and the Gulf Countries, asserted Uni-Italian President Cesare Romiti.
