Professor Giovanna Iannantuoni delivers guest lecture on the Italian university system and the importance of international networks

Italian higher education leader Professor Giovanna Iannantuoni visited Warwick University and the Department of Economics last month as part of her mission to deepen international relationships in the HE sector.

Professor Iannantuoni is an economist, Rector of the University of Milano-Bicocca, and the first woman President of the Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities. In the Italian system a Rector is similar to a UK Vice-Chancellor, with responsibility for academic and financial leadership. It is an elected position with a six-year term.

In addition to meetings with Warwick University Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart Croft and members of Warwick’s senior leadership team, Professor Iannantuoni delivered a guest lecture focusing on her observations of the strengths and weaknesses of the Italian university system, and opportunities for international collaboration in teaching, learning and research.

Having travelled widely herself as a student and academic, Professor Iannantuoni is a strong advocate of working across borders, saying:

“internationalization improves the quality of teaching, research and service to society, helps ensure people have adequate skills for a rapidly evolving and interconnected world, but above all, it means a future of peace and coexistence between different cultures and societies.”

Professor Iannantuoni also outlined some of the ways the Italian HE sector is contributing to national recovery after the coronavirus pandemic.

The Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan is a 10 billion euro programme investing heavily in higher education and research as a means to promote economic growth through innovation.

The University of Milano-Bicocca is one of the 11 Innovation Ecosystems created under the Plan, to address territorial research and innovation challenges, focusing on urban regeneration. The Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action (MUSA) project has turned the university campus and its neighbourhood into a kind of living laboratory where academics, commuters and residents come together to test technical and social innovations in real time.

The lecture was part of an occasional series co-ordinated by the Quantitative and Analytical Political Economy Research Centre (QAPEC).

Professor Francesco Squintani introduced Professor Iannantuoni and chaired the event.

• Listen to a short interview with Professor Iannantuoni exploring some of the themes of her talk.