Digital universities help the social lift

Dear Director, human capital formation is a strategic goal for us. Declining birth rates, an ageing population, declining household composition and negative migration balance reduce the availability of active intelligences for the near future.

First and foremost, it is necessary to recall the brains that have gone abroad, a task that is less difficult today than it was yesterday, if salaries are adequate, also in view of the current outflow of researchers from the United States.

Overcoming educational poverty is the second objective. Neet 15-29 year olds are at 23.1%. Functional illiteracy, which affects all age groups, is at 28%. 30% of Italian students do not reach the minimum level of competence in reading. But work is being done in this area by the ministry, regional educational institutions, many teachers, social organisations and many credit institutions. Particularly relevant is the role of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and its Foundation.

The third problem is university education. We are second to last in Europe in terms of the number of university graduates, Romania last. There would be much to be committed to, but for the past year or so the prevailing discussion seems to focus on the clash between traditional and digital universities.

According to critics, digital teaching as such would not provide adequate training; but the Report of the Harvard Future of Teaching and Learning Task Force argues otherwise. Critics also accuse digital universities of being mere degree mills. In reality, quality digital universities reach similar or sometimes higher levels than traditional universities. For instance, the ranking of the Telematic University San Raffaele Rome in the latest research quality assessment (Vqr) was higher than all state universities.