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----- Original Message -----
From: Uff. EPS
-To: ernesto
burgio
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 10:58 AM
Subject: Italian science on shaky ground Italian
science on shaky ground The
Scientist Controversial
measures in the approved 2004 finance law have thrown Italian research into a
shaky scenario of lawsuits, with more than 3500 postdoctoral researchers and
professors making appeal to the regional administrative tribunal in the attempt
to obtain promised positions. The
scientists, who have unionized in the Coordinamento Professori Idonei
(CPI), or the Association of Qualified Professors, all won the post of
university professors after 1999 through open competition. But their access or
advancement in universities and research centers was
frozen last year by the finance law, which prevented any recruitment in the
public sector. “The
2004 budget law has reiterated this policy. Basically, it is stopping the
natural turnover in universities. It prevents public universities from employing
young researchers and has even blocked the career of professors, since in
The
hiring freeze is only one of the 2004 finance law measures that may deeply
affect research in the country. The most controversial has allocated €1 billion
to a planned Italian Institute for
Technology
(IIT)—€ 50 million in 2004 and €100 million per year in the next decade.
Conceived
on the model of US centers such as the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, the IIT would generate research that could be
transferred to industry and others for the public benefit, according to the
government's plan. The
project, however, has been roundly criticized by the scientific community, who
worry that the new center will be a waste of resources
while many struggle for funding. Another
measure sets tax reductions for Italian researchers working overseas who want to
return home. “If this is the only aspect that has been considered to attract
Italian scientists who work abroad, it is not much. Any improvement is welcome,
but brain drain is not due to tax reasons. The lack of funding
and organized structures are the most relevant problems,” Cristina Alberini, an assistant professor at Mount Sinai School of
Medicine in Yet
according to Letizia Moratti, minister of Education, University, and Research,
the budget set aside by the 2004 finance law fills the gap between
“Expenditure
in research has seen an increase of about €1.6 to 1.7 billion in the 2004 budget
law, and this corresponds to a 0.1% increase of the gross domestic product,” she
said in a statement. The
ministry insisted that the government will find the necessary funding to give
the unhappy researchers and professors the promised positions. Despite
reassurances, CPI is determined to continue on the path of petitions and
lawsuits. It has already received the support of scientists such as Nobel
Laureate Carlo Rubbia,
CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) Director Luciano Maiani, and geneticist
Luca Cavalli-Sforza. “It
is really worrying to see that the government is not able or doesn't want to
find the necessary funding for universities and research. It looks like the
country is becoming part of the Balkans. We are so close geographically, and
soon we will be as much in disgraced conditions for intellectual opportunities,”
Cavalli-Sforza wrote in his supporting
letter. Meanwhile,
another axe is expected to fall on universities, as the Council of Ministers is
about to propose a law that will change radically the juridical status of
researchers and professors. If
approved, researchers will be offered a 5-year contract renewable for only
another 5 years, which would basically make the researcher's role disappear.
“The proposed law would throw the university's world on a very shaky ground. Not
really a smart way to stop brain drain,” Contucci
said. Links
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Title: Italian science on shaky ground
