Polimi in the world top 100: 'Now more investment in research'

What vision?

That of a university where, within the same campus, a virtuous ecosystem is created, a fruitful contamination between education, businesses, start-ups and research laboratories.

What are the most urgent challenges for a technical-scientific university like the Politecnico today? Often the European model is accused of being less competitive and more bureaucratic than the American and Asian ones.

The most important challenge is investment in research. Both public and private. If we are convinced that young people represent the future of our country, we must invest more in their education. Today the investment gap, even with some Swiss universities alone, without necessarily looking at the US, is sidereal. So it is complicated to continue competing.

What kind of graduates does the Politecnico want to train today? Which skills are really 'future-proof'?  

We aim to train solid technical-scientific basic skills, accompanied by the ability to think critically, the ability to work in an interdisciplinary manner and, finally, the ability to continue learning throughout one's professional life.

Is there a project or initiative that you consider particularly strategic for the future of the Politecnico?

I have already said about the Bovisa campus. I would say the effort we are making to spread a greater culture of entrepreneurship among students and researchers. The challenge is to bring the results of our research to the industrial world, stimulating the creation of new companies. This is an area in which we are particularly lagging behind in Italy and Europe.

The Politecnico is a fully international university, with 8,000 foreign students out of a total enrolment of 48,000, especially in master's degrees. But it is still a Milanese university. You have repeatedly taken a stand on the issues of the cost of living, high rents and the conditions of young people in the city. Is there anything that can be done, realistically, to offer students a more inclusive city model ?

The first thing to do would be to guarantee all eligible students the right to study, which is still not the case. Then, as a Polytechnic, we are committed to building student halls of residence at reduced prices, not least because those that are springing up, linked to private universities, are prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, it would be useful to provide a form of support that would allow, via platforms, large flats to be shared between students. Obviously these actions would not solve the root of the problem nor the difficulties of recent graduates, or young professors, who earn too little in Italy to be able to afford a rent in the city.