The excessive number of university
graduates with respect to labor market demand and the brain
drain will be among key issues at the center of a gathering on
"University and economic development" organized as part of the
G7 University in Trieste on June 29-30.
The event is organized by the Italian national university
rectors' conference (CRUI) in collaboration with the
Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional government, Fondazione Friuli,
the University of Udine and the education ministry.
Some 150 university rectors, professors and students from G7
countries will be participating in the initiative, which is part
of the Italian 'Conoscenza in Festa' knowledge festival.
The third of four scheduled discussions will examine the
theme, starting with the following question: "Analyzing policies
to increase the population of graduates, how important are
university tuition fees?".
The preparatory document drafted by coordinators Mattia
Cattaneo, Michele Meoli and Stefano Paleari from the University
of Bergamo stressed the need to delve into the evolving
relationship between the "level of public investment and the
number of citizens who have graduated.
"A new conceptual model can be useful to better understand
the external conditions to be held into account when a
government is planning a policy to increase the population of
graduates", the researchers wrote in the document.
Working on the "abstract implementation of a model based
solely on quantitative results obtained in a single country is
an excessively simplistic solution if contingent factors are not
adequately considered".
In order to stimulate further reflection at the G7 event, the
researchers who worked on the draft document noted that, "while
our conceptual model focuses on the quantity of graduates in the
population, the passage from quantity to quality has instead
become increasingly important for our economies based on
knowledge.
"The future orientations of research" will be based on this
scenario, the researchers concluded.
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