Italian marine engineering in crisis

Genoa - Weeks back, the University of Genoa first signalled its support of the revitalization of Naval architecture and Marine engineering courses, with the recruitment of two category-B lecturers, and the prospect of hiring them on a permanent basis. However the measure is insufficient to assure the survival of these two essential disciplines of study for Ligurian industry. Now the aim is to raise awareness within the Ministry of Education. On 15 July at La Spezia (where the campus of the University’s nautical engineering faculty is located) a conference will be held titled “The role of marine engineering and naval architecture at the University of Genoa: a national perspective”.

Italy’s Minister of Education, Stefania Giannini, will attend the meeting which is being organized by Diten (University of Genoa with its Department of Marine Electronics and Electrical Marine Engineering).

The problem of a scarcity of available training for marine and nautical engineers, had already been raised by lecturers and institutions, as well as by Confitarma and Fincantieri. According to data provided by Almalaurea, 83% of graduates in naval engineering in Genoa found a job within a year. “The purpose of the meeting,” explains the Genoese dean of Marine engineering, Carlo Podenzana Bonvino, “is to bring to the attention of policy makers the fact that Marine and Naval education in Italy is in a crisis due to lack of resources, while out in the marketplace there is growing demand for professionals in these fields.” As far as the University of Genoa is concerned, they’re only able to cover about half of their stated need for specialized educators. “The issue of teaching positions needed,” says Podenzana, “is complex because we think in terms of staffing percentages. Summarizing, we can say that today there are 15 professors and lecturers for about 1,000 students, half of the faculty teach off-campus, with a teaching load that is twice the normal size, which would really require the presence of 28 educators. The situation will get even worse in the coming years, with retirements and the expiry of contracts, so that fewer faculty members will have to teach three times the normal course load.” What is your message for the minister? “We need to hire at least 8-10 lecturers over the next three years, to make sure we can offer sound training.” The problem of being able to continue to offer Marine engineering and Naval courses was raised last March. “At present, the ministry scatters its financial assistance for education wherever it may fall, but that system doesn’t work to solve critical issues such as ours, which require the allocation of targeted assistance.”

An earlier case in point is Savona’s engineering faculty, for which, a special financing outlay was established when it was created by the Ministry, thereby making it possible to hire nine researchers.