\u201cEducation is one of the main problems in our country. If the bond between the university and the world of work is obscured, university students risk becoming irrelevant.\u201d Giorgio Vittadini, President of the Foundation for Subsidiarity, thus introduced the conference titled \u201cUniversity and occupation\u201d in Sala 3D at 11:15, reconnecting with the title of the 35th Meeting edition.
\nMaurizio Carvelli, CEO of CEUR Foundation, emphasized the necessity for each student to discover his or her own talent. Often, this word is misunderstood, but it simply specifies \u201cthe gravitational force which draws a man and a woman to occupy their own place in the world, because through their talent they can relate to reality in a unique way.\u201d Evoking the parable of talents, Carvelli explained that everyone has to invest his or her own talent and make it productive; it has been given to us and we have to give it back in some way. \u201cThe evident difficulty in discovering our talents,\u201d he said \u201ccan be overcome through the encounter with adults capable of inciting the student\u2019s curiosity and attentiveness to circumstances of reality.\u201d \u201cOnly in this way,\u201d he concluded \u201ccan talent become an opportunity and not a burden.\u201d
\nAndrea Cammelli, Director of AlmaLaurea, evoking the words of St. Clare, said that: \u201cThis is a period of crisis, but we can\u2019t forget that even in a period of famine, the farmer cuts back on everything except sowing.\u201d And sowing has to be done with care. Plutarch used to say: \u201cYouth are not vases to fill up, but torches to light.\u201d
\nThis theme was amplified by Francisco Marmolejo, Tertiary Education Coordinator at the World Bank. \u201cEducation,\u201d he said, \u201cis an essential pillar of our society, because it guarantees not only economic but also social advantages. First of all, it forms individual consciences.\u201d Keynes wrote: \u201cThere is nothing that a government hates more than being well-informed, because that makes the decision-making process more complicated.\u201d Education, said the speaker, supports tolerance of other cultures, social mobility, and greater respect for environment.
\nEducation is closely linked to the social-economy. In a globalized and competitive world, which has changed profoundly in the last fifty years, it is necessary to reform the university system. \u201cIf there is a new situation,\u201d argued Marmolejo \u201cwe need to look at it from a different point of view.\u201d This urgency is highlighted by the growing difference between the education of university students and the competences that the work environment requires. Instead, these two worlds must communicate and collaborate. Marmolejo thus proposed a new university model that entails greater involvement of students, through active learning (for example study abroad experiences or internships) and in the workplace. Youth have to be ready to change occupations, to work in teams and in multicultural environments, to learn at least another foreign language and, most of all, to sustain the desire for learning for the rest of their lives.
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\u201cEducation is one of the main problems in our country. If the bond between the university and the world of work is obscured, university students risk becoming irrelevant.\u201d Giorgio Vittadini, … <\/p>\n