- FEBRUARY 2018 -

HOME - THE INTERVIEW - Vincenzo Zara President of the University of Salento “Being in the center of the Mediterranean favors the dialog between cultures”

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THE INTERVIEW

Vincenzo Zara
President of the University of Salento
“Being in the center of the Mediterranean favors the dialog between cultures” by Flavia Pankiewicz

Since 1st November 2013, Vincenzo Zara has been the President of Lecce’s University of Salento, which today has 20,000 students, 8 departments, 6 faculties and 53 courses.

A figure of international prestige, Zara has been full professor of Biochemistry at the University of Salento since 2001 and has filled important positions at foreign colleges like the University of Bochum (Germany), the University of Montreal (Canada), Dartmouth Medical School (USA) and Salt Lake City University (USA). He is the author of 200 scientific publications and 4 international patents. He also continues to hold coordination positions at a national level, at the Fondazione CRUI (Congress of Italian University Presidents), ANVUR (Agency for University and research system evaluation) and MIUR (Ministry of Education, Universities and Research).

After a year as President of the University of Salento can you weigh up your experience and say what problems you have encountered and in what respects you feel satisfied?

The initial problems were related to the University’s working mechanisms: we started a process of strengthening the cohesion of the whole University community in the hope that, by all speaking the same language, we can agree on common goals in the interests of the institution.

In complex environments like the one we work in, this kind of process always takes a while. Difficulties arise when there is a lack of willingness to proceed together and find the best way to mediate between situations, and what is promoted instead are particular interests, often in contrast with others. These are the real obstacles to putting good ideas into effect, but I trust there will be a growing awareness in everyone that the principle of working side by side enables us to move forward and fully achieve the University’s mission.

I am satisfied with the progress made in the internationalization of education, the establishment of the Permanent Learning Service, as well as the improvement in research and the interventions we are planning with a systemic approach to optimize governance.

What are the salient points in the continuing development of your plan?

The priority of all our projects is to be student-centered and to design actions that involve not only the education and research processes but also the administrative and bureaucratic processes that enable them to be carried out.

Furthermore, in compliance with the so-called “third mission”, we will intensify our dialog with the institutions and the whole territory because we firmly believe that it is only by activating synergies that concrete results can be achieved, such as greater contact between our students and the professional reality that awaits them after their graduation.

We know that you are very interested in re-launching the internationalization of your University. What initiatives are you planning to take?

A major role in the strategy of internationalization is played by teaching, but the level of internationalization of research is equally important. For our academic staff, though not in a uniform way, this is becoming more and more significant.

The University’s basic level of financial resources does not help much, since funds are constantly being cut by the Ministry. To counteract this tendency, we are currently strengthening our planning capacity in order to have easier access to funding for our research projects, often of a very high level, using EU funds as well as ministerial and regional allocations.

Is there any specific project related to the United States of America?

Many individual professors have established official relations of cooperation in research activities with US Universities, research organizations and other American bodies. At the University level, we have numerous agreements. Recently for example under an agreement with the University of Wisconsin, we met with the representatives of that University during their visit to UniSalento with 10 American students.

There is a lot of talk about sustainable development for our territory and a positive role could be played by the creation of a Faculty of Agronomy in Lecce. Can you tell me whether this is a real possibility, whether the wheels are already in motion?

The creation of a new faculty at present is extremely complicated owing to the constraints, not only of an economic kind, imposed by the national Government’s strategies. However, we have already discussed it with the local institutions and the agricultural sector. Now we are considering the possibility of establishing some courses, not necessarily in the form of an independent degree course, which can move in this direction in a practical and efficacious way. We are taking into account the interest local stakeholders have showed in the project and the value it could have for a territory where agriculture and the agro-food sector play an extremely important role in the economy.

How open is the sity of Salento to dialog with the local territory?

The University of Salento has no mental closures, ideological barriers, or any sort of preconceptions. The culture of this University links university activities with the territory in an almost natural way. If on some occasions there have been delays or closures, the attempt has always been made to overcome them. And anyway, the great number of program agreements, conventions, requests for patronage and other sorts of initiatives linking us to bodies, institutions and businesses show that this exchange is constant and tangible.

What are the outstanding faculties in your University? Which ones have closer links with the world of work and could ensure job opportunities for new graduates?

The courses we offer are very varied and of excellent level, as the international recognitions we have received show. Each of our faculties offers courses and educational projects of outstanding quality, often able to give students competences valid on the national and also international employment market.

The weak point is a context that is not dynamic enough from the economic point of view; the most interesting job opportunities are often offered in other Italian regions or abroad where many of our graduates end up moving. This means we invest our effort and resources in training human capital that contributes and at times leads production processes and wealth creation in territories other than our own. The problem is extremely important and deserves the attention not only of the University but of all the regional institutions.

What factors attract students from other parts of Italy or from abroad to the University of Salento? And if you had to invent a slogan to indicate these factors, what words would you use?

The position of our University in the heart of the Mediterranean makes it a privileged place to encourage dialog between the cultures, to compare different ways of thinking, to expand the scientific knowledge related to the activities of the local territory.

Rather than a mere slogan, I would say that our University is the place where it is possible for a student to meet world knowledge and have an exciting educational experience, building up a broad body of competences in a thorough and up-to-date way.