Italian universities need a strategic change

A recent issue of 'Nature' states that universities have shaped the modern world but must survive it today. In the collective imagination, higher education is still a transformative experience, offered to young people who attend courses full-time, thus devoting most of their energies to studying and living on or near campus. This model of operation, however, is increasingly becoming more of an aspiration than actual reality. An increasing share of students, in fact, are part-time, but even full-time students often combine study with 'odd jobs' and other extracurricular commitments, are commuters and prefer online courses, demanding higher education services rather than transformative social and intellectual experiences. The last few years, therefore, have not marked a simple return to post-pandemic normality, but rather the entry into a new era characterised by socio-cultural and technological discontinuities that lead to a profound questioning of the cultural, social and economic value of both the course and the degree, especially if issued by a state university. The latter, in fact, are suffering increasingly significant competition from private universities in attracting young talent, as if what is subsidised has less quality and prestige, and therefore does not favour access to high-paying jobs, fuelling the idea of the instrumentality of the degree. Among young people, moreover, there is growing scepticism about the return on investment in a university degree, not least because some large companies, primarily Big Tech, are removing the requirement for this degree from job offers. At a global level, geopolitical tensions, demographic winter and brain drain abroad are causing a decrease in the number of enrolled students: many Italian graduates choose to go to university abroad, judging the foreign industrial fabric to be more advanced than the domestic one for finding satisfying jobs. The situation is, finally, further affected by the advent of generative Ai, which renders tadiational teaching methods obsolete, and by the judgement of the community on the value of research and academic freedom: according to the vulgate, investing in research does not mean investing in economic growth and social mobility, while some populist regimes have discredited scientists by claiming that they do not pursue the interest of all social strata of the population. The obsolescence of state universities seems, therefore, self-evident. Yet it is precisely in this kind of context that the university proves to be culturally indispensable, because it is the only institution capable of integrating three critical functions: production of new knowledge, custodianship of historical memory and mentoring of the younger generations. Many Italian state universities seem to be reacting to this context in an unplanned manner, guided not by a sense of direction, but by a directionlessness that leads to short-term strategies and a decline in confidence in the future. The strategy is made all the more difficult by the fact that different social groups (e.g. teaching staff vs. technical-administrative staff, scientists vs. humanists), but also their different members, react in different ways, losing focus on the collective interest. State universities are called upon, instead, to move from a logic of tactical response, to solve small problems in the short term, to one of strategic proposal, to seize great opportunities in the long term. It is a matter of urgency and duty to rewrite the 'social contract' with the community, specifying its mission, that is, the values that pertain to us professors, those that we are called upon to pass on to our students: we are called upon to ensure the social functions of the state university, that is, to combine scientific excellence and social inclusion, technological innovation and critical humanism, autonomy and dialogue with businesses and institutions. State universities must transform themselves into active engines of technological and cultural innovation (means), to help achieve environmental, social and economic sustainability (end); they must lead, not suffer, the changes taking place. It is not just a matter of playing better within the current framework, but of changing the rules of the game. Universities must once again become engines of meaning, preparing the ruling class of the future to face dramatic global challenges. And all this, in the case of state universities, by ensuring equitable access to education. In essence, the link with society must be redefined in favour of what really matters, the people.