During the inauguration ceremony of the Academic Year Petrocelli described projects and prospects, then Giuliano Amato's lectio magistralis
The number of students enrolled in degree courses at the University of the Republic of San Marino is returning to pre-pandemic levels, while higher education records a surge: this was stated during the inauguration ceremony of the 2023-24 Academic Year , the Rector Corrado Petrocelli: “We have recovered from the crisis of the two-year Covid period, which as you know has left a legacy because the enrollments that decreased then drag on for at least three years. We will be out of it next year – he assured yesterday, Wednesday 27 March, during his speech at the Kursaal Congress Center – but we have already returned to the previous numbers”. With respect to the origin of the students, "we cover all the Italian regions" and "the number of San Marino people is increasing".
At the same time, higher education courses "record an explosive growth of over 340%". Figures in hand, therefore, "we have more than 2 thousand students".
In this area "the wide range relating to Healthcare stands out, which could soon also see a master's degree in Integrated Oncology and a degree course in Osteopathy, which would be one of the first in Italy".
We are also working so that "a degree course in Medicine can take root in the future, constituting a center of attraction in San Marino". Among the projects for the future there is also "the intention to create a wide-ranging master's course in Global Studies, Governance, Law and International Relations", announced Petrocelli. “It aims to be unique in the panorama of the peninsula, delivered in both Italian and English, to promote the study of global phenomena through a multidisciplinary and transnational approach”. For what is defined as "an innovation of immediate implementation", "academics and professionals from the legal, historical, political sectors" and beyond will be called to the chair.
In addition to mentioning the positioning of the University of San Marino on the international front, thanks to a growing network of partnerships and entry into the main academic organizations of the continent and beyond, Petrocelli finally recalled the impact of the University on the territory to "improve, innovate and grow the social, cultural, professional, entrepreneurial, medical-health, judicial, labor and PA fabric". An example of this is the "signing of a framework agreement between the University and the State Congress to give life to institutional projects of strategic interest. It is working – underlined the Rector – it has already produced initiatives and will produce more”.
Also speaking during the ceremony was the Secretary of State for Education and Culture, Andrea Belluzzi, who in describing a "University that grows in quality and size" focused on one of the most urgent needs: the creation of "one or more students, a topic on which we will work together with our Government colleagues until the last day of the legislature. We have put a task force on the table in this sense, there are more stakeholders available to discuss this issue. There is a need for numerous beds and the option of splitting them up may be viable."
In front of an audience that gathered students, academics, institutional representatives, of the categories and not only, including the Captains Regent Filippo Tamagnini and Gaetano Troina, the word was finally given to the jurist Giuliano Amato, president emeritus of the Constitutional Court, for the lectio magistralis from title “The difficult democracy of our time and the Italian Constitution”.
