LA POLITICA INTERNAZIONALE DI ATENEO The Internationalization at the level of graduate studies

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LA POLITICA INTERNAZIONALEDI ATENEOThe
Internationalization at the level of graduate
studies

• Enrico Predazzi
• Vice President ISASUT
• International School of Advanced Study
• University of Turin

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The University of Torino has a
longstanding tradition of excellence in both
Undergraduate Teaching and Research at the
International level. With the 1999
reform of the Italian Academic teaching
system, something had to be done for a
better commitment of the University to
Graduate Teaching.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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This brought, in July 2000, to
establishingISASUTInternational Schoolof
Advanced Study of the University of Torino as
a better opportunity for students intoa more
prominent international dimension.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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- a commitment to maximum internationalization
of the teaching at the graduate level- a full
transversality of the experiment to all
scientific domains in both humanities and
sciences with an equal distribution of resources
between the two fields- a commitment to
promoting the graduate teaching to increase the
international opportunities to the students.
The guidelines of ISASUT are
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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A) Internationalization has been quite
successful taking different forms in different
areas.To just mention the most prominent one, a
consistent number of fellowships and of free
positions have been offered to foreign students
in all fields, 41 in 2002, 47 in 2003 (covering
all fields of research and graduate teaching).
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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B) 14 foreign students (mostly from developing
countries) in the year 2002 and 21 in the year
2003 have joined our graduate courses (5-10 of
the total number of graduate students).
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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C) Close to 30 fellowships have been created by
ISASUT over the last two years of operation
(close to 10 of the total number of fellowships
offered by the University). D) Large
opportunities of international Schools have been
offered to the students and large number of
scholars both local and from abroad have taken
part in these.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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E) ISASUT has managed to match entirely from
other sources the money received from the
University.With this money, ISASUT has financed
(or is in the process of financing), in total or
in part, about 30 Graduate Schools, Workshops,
Cycles of graduate lectures (most of these in
collaboration with other Italian and foreign
Universities).These programs span over all
disciplines from natural sciences to humanities,
social and political sciences.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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Some final comments are in orderMy
assessment is that ISASUT has been a fairly
successful experiment not so much because of the
total amount of resources it has managed to raise
so far both in fellowships but because it has
attracted so many foreign students and it has
been active in (almost) all fields from sciences
to humanities, from political to economical
studies and so on
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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We believe that internationalization is
the key for success in research and we will
work hard to further improve the level of
graduate teaching in all areas.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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Still, many things are open forimprovementA
delicate point concerns outside peer review of
our graduate teaching programs. Here, many act
as if the defense of local privileges may be the
last resort. Things, however, are rapidly
improving.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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Basic research is expensive and the resources
are shrinking everywhere.It is universally
recognized that scientific research is the best
economic investment in the medium-long range.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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The estimated average return from investments in
basic research is around 30 compared to a
maximum of 9 in all other fields.To ignore it,
will mean to lose competitivityin a form that
will admit no comebacks.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003
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AckowledgementThese achievements would
not have been possible without the continuous
enthousiastic support of our Chancellor,
Professor Bertolino and without the intelligent
collaboration of the Council of ISASUT and of the
entire staff.
Enrico Predazzi Vice president of ISASUT 21
MARZO 2003