Page 4 - focusUnimore_settembre2022

Editoriale. Qualità, sostenibilità, inclusione:
le sfide del nostro Ateneo per il futuro

Carlo Adolfo Porro

To coincide with the start of teaching activities in the new academic year 2022/2023, I would like to make a
few remarks on the mission of our University, together with a heartfelt greeting and best wishes to the entire
academic community.
The design of the educational offer, research, the third mission and its social function are for our university
constantly anchored to the quality challenge and the principles of sustainability, with a continuous focus on
the inclusiveness of teaching and related actions.
The university as we know it today is set within the horizon outlined by the Bologna Process, an intergovern-
mental cooperation agreement in the field of higher education that aims to promote academic freedom, the
free movement of professors and students, openness to research contexts also outside the university, and
other principles that are now part of our common vocabulary.
Within this process, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was defined as an objective agreed upon by
several European governments to promote cooperation between university institutions and higher education
institutions within a single system, complemented by a European Research Area (ERA).
A careful analysis of international dynamics is therefore a valuable tool for designing a university system
capable of grasping the increasingly rapid cultural, social and economic changes of our time and outlining
how these challenges can be met.
In such a context, Unimore pursues its aim of contributing to the welfare and development of the community
through the production of knowledge made possible by research, the development of the applications that
derive from it and the transmission of this knowledge to the new generations and, more generally, to society,
through higher education activities.
The challenge is to implement quality assurance actions for our Degree Programmes, coordinated with a
teaching programme based on adequate resources in terms of teaching, facilities and student services; all
this in order to train graduates who are up to the expectations and needs of a complex and rapidly changing
world of work.
The link between quality research and educational activities is one of the founding characteristics of the Uni-
versity, which also enables the creation of culture and knowledge through the promotion of innovative paths
and the enhancement of research infrastructures.
As we all know, our country is confronted with a great opportunity for growth and development represented
by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP): a fund of more than €190 billion that runs along 16
Components, grouped into 6 Missions.
The funding managed by the Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR) within the framework of Mission 4
of the NRRP amounts to more than €13 billion: these are largely resources earmarked for large projects, for
which various aspects will be taken into account, including the catching up of gaps, territorial and genera-
tional, as well as the merit principle.
This planning is embedded in a predominantly inter- and trans-disciplinary perspective of the University, thus
not limited to individual groups or departments.
Unimore is a founding member of the networks of four national centres: Simulation, calculation and analysis
of high-performance data; Sustainable mobility; Development of gene therapy and drugs with RNA technol-

4