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Just two months after Italy underwent a crisis of government and established an alliance between two leading political parties, the left-of-center Democratic Party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, the country has announced plans to start a National Agency for Research to help oversee the distribution of federal funds.
“Almost every country has at least one agency of this kind. Except for Italy, which has now decided to set it up,” Nicola Bellomo, president of an organization called Gruppo 2003 that campaigns for change in Italy’s academic system, tells Times Higher Education (THE). “This is undoubtedly good news.”
Currently, research funding is allotted by individual ministries, such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Education, University and Research. With a preliminary annual budget of €300 million (more than $330 million US), some of which is new money and some of ...
