The Italian government’s draft budget for 2008 will bring more money to universities and research. A lion’s share of the 400 million Euro increase will go into the basic funding of universities, while 20 million Euro are destined for a number of scholarship funds for students in tertiary education. The additional resources will be used to develop the efficiency of Italian higher education and to improve the quality of teaching and research.

Of the 80 million increase in the research budget, 20 million Euro will be earmarked to support the recruitment of 1 000 new researchers. Additionally, a government plan for the recruitment of researchers will bring in further 40 million for this purpose in 2008 and twice as much in 2009. In Italy, the government funding amounts to about half of all research and development investment, compared to 30 percent in the United States, 20 percent in Finland or 10 percent in Japan, who all encourage diverse investment from the private sector.

Italian Ministry of Universities and Research