Worried Rectors: 'Substantial cuts to universities'. Talks with the minister

The universities are complaining of cuts to the Ordinary Financing Fund (Ffo) that, according to the Mur tables, will amount to 173 million, 2% less than in 2023. The decree governing the Criteria for the distribution of the Ordinary Financing Fund (Ffo) of State Universities and Inter-University Consortia for the year 2024 was published in these days. "The climate between the ministry and rectors, after an initial stiffening, was and is one of strong dialogue. A significant cut had been planned for months, and we are reasoning and working together on how to spread it over the various items," Francesco Bonini, rector of Lumsa, told Ansa. In fact, it is a common belief that the parameters for distributing the Ordinary Financing Fund are too old and rigid.

"At least 500 million would have been needed just to recover the 2023 inflation. Instead, the government chooses to go in the opposite direction and cut back on tertiary education," say the young people of Udu, the Union of University Students. Politics also intervenes on the issue: "All Italian universities are denouncing painful cuts to their ordinary funding fund and only six of them are breaking even compared to last year," says MP Antonio Caso, head of the M5s group in the Culture Commission. "In Sardinia, the cut is 3,987,785 for Cagliari, which drops by 3.13% from 127 million to 123, and 2,239,221 for Sassari with a cut of 3.10% compared to 2023 with the funding going from 77 million euros to 74 million euros for 2024," Pd MP Silvio Lai points out. "This is a very heavy cut for universities in general, at a time when additional resources would be required and not less," he adds.

The rectors of Florence, Pisa and Siena are also sounding the alarm: 'It is the functioning of our universities and research that will suffer,' they say in unison. The four universities in the Marche region will have less funding by more than 3%, the CGIL denounces. "Compared to the previous year, the funds allocated to universities will be reduced by 1.5 million for Udine and over 3 million for Trieste, with a decrease of 1.8% and 3.07% respectively: these heavy cuts put the universities in serious difficulty, jeopardising the possibility of maintaining high levels in the educational offer and adequately supporting research," says Furio Honsell, regional councillor of Open Left Fvg and former rector of the University of Udine.

University Minister Anna Maria Bernini, however, does not go along with this: 'This year Italian universities will receive over 9 billion in funding, an increase of 21% compared to 2019. Important resources that require responsible use, with precise targets and sustainable long-term planning," she says.
This year the Fund does not benefit from the extraordinary contribution received in 2023 and linked to the NRP and returns to standardised values, in any case higher than 2022. The Mur assures that it is working on a new increase of funds as early as 2025. In addition to the ordinary financing fund, Italian state universities have received other contributions. These include the almost EUR 11 billion made available by the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (NRPR), intended for the period 2022-2026, and the National Plan for Complementary Investments (NCP).