Luiss inaugurates the 2021-2022 academic year, a beacon on global challenges

The new Academic Year 2021-2022 has been inaugurated at Luiss in Rome which has lit a beacon on global challenges. In the Aula Magna of the Viale Pola Campus, the trajectory was indicated by the Lectio Magistralis by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) who at the ceremony of the Luiss Guido Carli University underlined how “global challenges present opportunities and to fully seize them today we need a multilateral trading system, open, inclusive, sustainable, to protect common goods, starting from public health to the climate and the oceans, designing new value chains, to fight the pandemic and reduce inequalities “With her Lectio – entitled ‘Serving the Global Commons: the role of trade in post covid recovery and pre-pandemic preparedness’ – the Director of the World Trade Organization called for greater awareness of the role that people and organizations international organizations are called upon to carry out, also to ensure fairer access to vaccines and medical treatment for developing countries development, and more resources for global progress, in this phase of post-pandemic reconstruction and recovery. Luiss also awarded Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first African woman to lead the WTO, the PhD Honoris Causa in Politics because “she represents for girls and boys an example of individual talent, merit and vision to be inspired by, in especially for all those who study “to be protagonists in the world of international relations. The Director General Giovanni Lo Storto in his opening report noted that “it is precisely on these values ​​that Luiss bases its mission as an open, connected and inclusive University to train a generation of responsible and cosmopolitan young people, thanks to new learning models. and an effective use of new technologies “. A University, Lo Storto recalled, “in which female students are forced to ask themselves questions, to change points of observation of reality, thanks to the extraordinary work of a teaching staff of 1,449 between professors and professors, coming from 15 different nationalities. University that wants to fuel social mobility, attract international talents and develop innovative projects “. For the Rector Andrea Prencipe, moreover, “the pandemic has allowed us to appreciate the limits and potential of digital. Hence the strategy of integrating technologies to ‘increase’ the educational experience of Luiss, with the debut, scheduled for 2022- 23 of two master’s degrees in On-Live mode, completely digital aimed at international students “. Prencipe remarked that the University’s mission, in fact, “recognizes the universal value of education as an engine of development for the world’s populations”. And, in conclusion, the Rector thanked Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for his presence, who “has shown, during his extraordinary career, a strong dedication to the subject of training, realizing, among many projects, the International Finance Facility for Education , a financial instrument for the global education of the youngest, aimed in particular at low and middle-income countries “. During this post-pandemic year, Luiss recorded a new record in admission applications with an increase of 23% for three-year and single-cycle degree courses compared to the previous year (with + 35% of applications from foreign students), and 10% for master’s degree courses. The University reports that “it continues its growth in the field of study, research and the acquisition of skills, consolidating itself more and more as a point of reference for a vast community connected with the world of work”. In fact, the employment rate of graduates one year after graduation is confirmed as 94%, with peaks of 97% for the Department of Economics and Finance. Furthermore, the international strengthening of Luiss continues with a student population of 85 nationalities, open to young academics and constantly growing in international rankings. At the same time, the University continues to consolidate its network of relationships with over 310 partner universities in 64 countries and 55 double degree programs and structured partnerships, involving around 1,400 students in mobility across borders each year. But not only that, because there is growing attention to merit and scholarships, with inclusion and training projects in Italy and for young people from disadvantaged areas of the African continent and war zones. The President of the University Vincenzo Boccia remarked that “Internationalization, Interdisciplinarity, Innovation: these are the three ‘I’s’ of our training model, the guidelines on which we orient our strategic vision. To these we add a fourth, that of Inclusion which means opening oneself to the other, to the different, to the new “. “Today, to contribute to Italy’s recovery, development and economic growth, Luiss is a candidate to be a training hub between Europe, the Mediterranean and Africa, building, through investment in multicultural and transnational educational projects, a bridge of opportunities between countries that – also thanks to digital technology – prepare the responsible classes for the future and open up to a new diplomacy of culture “finally assured Boccia.