Educational innovation and sporting values: Luiss welcomes 4,000 new first-year students
Rector Paolo Boccardelli: the university “continues to strengthen its educational model, combining scientific rigour with a constant openness to the dynamics of global markets and a strong commitment to the internationalisation of its degree programmes”
‘Our role is no longer simply to impart knowledge, but to guide you on a journey of personal, human and intellectual growth.’ It was in this spirit that Luiss President Giorgio Fossa welcomed the 4,000 new first-year students who passed through the university gates for the first time this year. The welcome ceremony, the highlight of Freshers’ Week, took place in the Mario Arcelli lecture theatre on the Viale Pola campus and was hosted by sports journalist Alessandro Antinelli. The event centred on two key themes: the value of sport through the Dual Career model, which gives student-athletes the opportunity to combine competitive sport with their studies, and educational innovation.
Study and sport
Special guests at the ceremony included FIGC President Giovanni Malagò and four top Luiss athletes who are multiple award-winning champions in their respective sports: Eloisa Coiro, holder of the Italian record in the 800-metre flat, Filippo Macchi, silver medallist in the individual foil at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lucrezia Ruggiero, multiple Italian senior champion in synchronised swimming, and Alice Volpi, who won silver in the team foil event at the last Olympic Games.
“Student-athletes,” said Malagò, “are fantastic ambassadors and incredible role models. I think that many of the first-year students here today, listening to their stories, felt proud that some of their fellow students had brought such prestige to the country by achieving these results. Their stories are truly wonderful.”
Through its Dual Career programmes, Luiss enables students to nurture their passion for sport alongside their academic commitments, giving them the opportunity to develop talents that extend beyond the academic sphere. The importance of investing wholeheartedly in the human aspect was reiterated by Fossa, who emphasised that welcoming young people also means taking on the responsibility ‘to support them on a comprehensive educational journey, characterised by a solid academic grounding complemented by a sound set of values’. Technical skills, in fact, according to the president, are “certainly fundamental, but ethical values, responsibility and team spirit are also needed to become, first and foremost, informed citizens and entrepreneurs in their own right. It is this combination that will prepare our students to lead the society of tomorrow”.
A similar view was expressed by Luiss’s Director General, Rita Carisano, who explained that the university’s main objective remains ‘first and foremost to educate people. People who can achieve what they wish but who are also able to give back their intellect to society. We do not want perfect students: above all, we want people who know how to look within themselves and become what they aspire to be’.
