Piero Giarda

The Italian Constitution was amended seven years ago to set two new constitutional principles: budget balance and public debt sustainability. The first rule allows for a budget deficit and countercyclical budget policies when the economy suffers cyclical downswings, and in other exceptional economic conditions to be defined by special legislation...

The Italian university system has progressively evolved from a university for few to a mass university. Its productive structure has only partially adapted to such evolution: a growing supply is accompanied by a large number of dropouts. Traditionally, a state run university system requires all units to operate with the same output mix, inclusive of general education and higher education. The result is poor resource allocation in face of the many and diverse objectives of university education. One better, utopian system, envisages a large number of universities devoted to general education and a small number supplying higher education. General education at the undergraduate level would be provided according to merit-oriented admittance rules. Teaching would adjust to the different talents of the students and thus reduce the number of dropouts. Differentiation in the supply mix of different universities is a necessary condition to reach the social objectives of mass education and development of individual talents.