Environment, sustainability, climate change are terms that have invaded our daily lives. But to give it substance there is a need for study and research. No environmental challenge will be overcome without an adequate scientific culture. Universities are the most suitable places to make the leap in quality that Italy is looking for. A signal - still lukewarm, unfortunately, in the general panorama - has arrived in recent days from the Sapienza University of Rome. "The issue of sustainability requires each of us to adhere to a new cultural paradigm that affects all fields, from scientific to humanistic," said the Rector Antonella Polimeni establishing the new Technical-Scientific Committee for Sustainability. A body made up of teachers from all areas and student representatives, entrusted to the protector for Sustainability Livio de Santoli. For now it is a structure conceived by the top management of the university, but the focus is on teaching with a course specifically dedicated to sustainable development objectives.
The establishment of Three-year degree course has already been hypothesized and in the next few weeks it will require an organizational effort to meet the future demand for knowledge. For now, work is being done on activities to be developed over six years with teaching, research and presence in the area. From April, the educational initiatives will be relaunched with a basic course which will award 6 university training credits. There will also be a general overview day on central themes: energy sustainability, environmental sustainability, social sustainability and indicators of fair trade well-being. Then also six interdisciplinary days and some webjnar created by the individual Faculties. We work on a « project to revise the idea of the University and its role in society » adds Professor Polimeni, convinced that an important space in the development of new economy circular will be covered by sustainability. Looking to the future? Yes. « The technical-scientific committee is made up of expert teachers in the various sectors of interest and of the students, the same ones to whom we must hand over the baton of our commitment to sustainable development. We want to carry forward the proposal of a transdisciplinary cultural model » adds the Rector, « capable of new interpretations of global demands. » In the university we speak, then, of « ecology of knowledge". A set of information that cannot remain inside laboratories and classrooms. The news of the birth of the Committee was disseminated together with the availability of the institutions for consultancy and planning. The ability of institutions, but also of private individuals, to face situations to be remedied or new eco-compatible challenges find the right answers in universities. Let's hope not only in Sapienza.
