The Uni-Italia annual conference was held today on 1 March 2016 in the International Conference Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The conference is dedicated to the two governmental programmes called “Marco Polo” and “Turandot”, created respectively in 2006 and 2009, in order to attract Chinese students to Italian universities and to the Institutes for Higher Education in Art and Music (Istituzioni di Alta Formazione Artistica e Musiscale – AFAM).
The goal of this technical meeting, which is addressed to universities, AFAM institutes and language training institutions, is to give an update on the status of the two programmes while at the same time developing them further through analyses and proposals put forth by conference participants.The Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, Vincenzo De Luca, opened the works of the conference by stating that Italy’s university system is an integral part of the country’s cultural and economic promotion and innovation system.
Furthermore, Mr De Luca said that there could be no internationalization of enterprises without the internationalization of universities. He called for a structured activity with China aimed at developing a shared strategy between institutions, universities, academies and conservatories that have an interest in the programmes. “We should press ahead to become even more effective in promoting the Italian language in China,” Director General De Luca said when speaking about promoting the Italian higher education system. He stressed the need to identify tools capable of offering a compact system that is focused on quality as well as making itself ever more attractive.The Uni-Italia Secretary General Alberto Ortolani pointed out that there had been a 264% increase in the total number of pre-enrolled students from 2008 to 2015. Additionally, there are 1907 students that have pre-enrolled for the Turandot Programme for the 2016-2017 academic year.
The meeting was attended by relevant officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, the Ministry of Interior and representatives of the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI).
The conference’s proceedings, including the many contributions and operational proposals which arose during the event, will be presented to the appropriate Ministries as useful documentation on which to elaborate future provisions.