More than 13 million at Sapienza from Mur to enhance inclusive and sustainable spaces and education

"Our Athenaeum - states the Rector Antonella Polimeni - welcomes an increasing number of students with disabilities and DSA every year: since 2020 they have almost doubled to over 4700. Ensuring an increasingly accessible and truly usable University for those who experience our spaces and services is one of the key objectives of Sapienza. Thanks to this funding, we are reinforcing the active and proximity policies pursued in recent years through shared planning that actively involves each member of our community with the aim of guaranteeing the right to study and equal opportunities for all, thus consolidating - concludes the Rector - the idea of an inclusive university that extends to all aspects of academic life and to all forms of fragility that may affect our student community".

The topic of university buildings and the maintenance and protection of the real estate of Italian universities is a crucial issue for the MUR, and even more so in the case of La Sapienza, which is responsible for more than 240 buildings spread across the urban fabric of Rome, often with historical-architectural constraints. Analyses in recent years have highlighted the need for more spacious, accessible and functional spaces, consistent with the inclusion and sustainability objectives of Agenda 2030 - with particular reference to environmental sustainability and 'soft' mobility, understood as a low-impact mode of transport for access to university buildings - and with national priorities on the energy efficiency of public property.
La Sapienza is constantly engaged in actions to foster an ever-better welcome for students with disabilities and with ASDs, ensuring dedicated paths and services and providing increasingly effective and specialised responses to requests for support that, year after year, grow in terms of frequency and specificity. Among the various activities implemented are support services for entrance examinations and enrolment, promotion of participation in teaching activities for deaf students, individualised teaching support, support and counselling to improve well-being and communication, and cognitive enhancement, mentoring and outplacement. In addition, on a scientific level, the University has promoted the realisation of dedicated degree and PhD theses, training activities aimed at Tab lecturers and staff on the subject of disabilities and specific learning disorders, as well as numerous innovative research projects such as the one for indoor localisation and navigation within buildings for the benefit of the visually impaired, currently being implemented in the 4 sites of the Faculty of Humanities by the Department of Informatics, with the active involvement of PhD and Master of Science students in Computer Science.

The funding will increase the usable area for classrooms, study rooms and teaching laboratories by approximately 8,000m² (6 percentage points more than the current allocation). All interventions include the removal of architectural barriers, technological upgrades and facilities for sustainable mobility. On the energy front, the upgrades will lead to an increase of approximately 15,700 m² in high energy class surfaces (compared to a baseline of just under 8,400 m²), with a direct effect on efficiency and consumption: a more sustainable, safe and student-friendly Sapienza, in line with the national and European standards supported by the Mur.