The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella feels at home at the State University of Milan, he who has long taught public law in Palermo, and finds “a sign of hope” to be able to participate in the inauguration of the academic year while remembering «The tiring but precious phase of distance teaching, in any case maintaining the life and functioning of the university».
The head of state does not hide the fact that “the pandemic has caused a crisis for each of us. It was not a stress test just for the university, but for everyone and in every part of the world. It is good to keep attention on what has happened: not only because we have not yet managed to reach the goal of defeating the pandemic, even if we are quickly on the right track, but above all because when the emergency is behind us it will not be good. remove it from memory in order to understand what happened and derive some behavioral criteria ». Mattarella takes up the words of Guglielmo Mina, the student representative who spoke before him: “We have rediscovered the web of relationships in our lives”. That’s right, we understood that we need others and vice versa. A criterion that we hope will not be removed from memory and behavior when the emergency phase is over. It is not so in personal relations as in international relations between states ».
The President reveals that in similar official circumstances he always tries “to grasp the logical thread of the interventions that take place during the ceremony” and almost makes a journalistic summary of the reflections heard on the pandemic: “The value of research and critical reflection emerges. In the inauguration of the academic year, the activity of the university and the reality of universities as a whole are taken stock. As suggested by the rector, and the Minister Messa is well aware, we need to arrive at models of governance that are adequate for efficiency and adherence to the times we are going through ».
During the pandemic the value of research emerged for Mattarella, which unites teachers and students, teachers and pupils. We will never be grateful enough to the world of science for the speed and commitment with which it has given humanity the tools to defeat the pandemic ». And before moving to Linate airport for the inauguration of the new boarding area, another departure point, the President again addresses the students: “We always ask ourselves about the future, we plan it, we will never be able to know it, but if the critical spirit is formed, encouraged and developed, we can be sure that we will build it well ».
Previously Maria Cristina Messa, Minister of University and Research, reaffirmed the distinctive values of “participation, presence and community for a conscious return to the sociality of knowledge” and recalled “good science, which is the engine of teaching, it dismantles fears, prejudices and ignorance, raises the quality of life and makes it better ». The rector Elio Franzini recalled how he and his colleagues have “suffered together in recent months, but have remained united, only a little more tired”. He honored the dead among the university students and all the victims of the pandemic and did so also by listing the successes on security, on Covid studies (fourth university in the world), the European alliances with Heidelberg, Sorbonne, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Prague, the new Città Studi, the Mind campus and the inauguration of a university publishing house.