Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 17; ITALY; SCIENCE CIA-RDP01-00707R000200080002-5.pdf/12

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200080002-5

development planning has recommended an increase in research and development funding by a factor of 4 by 1980. Figure 2 gives a breakdown of research expenditures by agencies and categories in 1970. The government supplied 48% of the funds, state-subsidized industry 14%, and private industry 38%. Government support of research varies widely from one discipline to another. About 93% of the $40 million spent on physics research during 1968 came from the government and only 7% from industry, while in chemistry, about 85% of $110 million came from industry sources and only 15% from the government. Most of the basic research in chemistry is funded in university institutes by the Ministry of Public Instruction, with substantial help from the funds assigned by the CNR to chemical research.

C. Scientific education, manpower, and facilities (C)

Ample opportunities for scientific education in Italy are available, particularly in the numerous state universities and in the two polytechnical institutes. There are 12 universities with both science and engineering faculties located at Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Genoa, L'Aquila, Naples, Padova, Palermo, Pavia, Pisa, Rome, and Trieste. An additional 11 universities have a science faculty but no engineering faculty; the universities are situated in Camerino, Catania, Ferrara, Florence, Messina, Milan, Modena, Parma, Perugia, Sassari, and Siena. The two polytechnic institutes at Milan and Torino have engineering faculties only. All of the above are supported by the Ministry of Public Instruction. The private universities are not outstanding in scientific education. Among the more prominent higher educational institutes involved in scientific and technical education are the University of Rome with 5,500 students enrolled in the science faculty, Naples with 5,200, and Milan with 3,200. The University of Naples has the largest number (4,600) enrolled in the engineering faculty, while the Milan Polytechnic Institute has 4,300 in engineering and the Torino Polytechnic Institute has 3,000. In recent years, there has been a strong trend in Italy to cut back the study of law and to put more emphasis on the sciences and engineering. From 1962-63 to 1966-67, enrollments in the sciences more than doubled to 58,000 and, similarly, enrollments in engineering more than doubled to 52,100. Research facilities at many of the universities are old and overcrowded, although several of the schools in the northern industrial regions, particularly the two polytechnic institutes, have built additional facilities with the support of large industrial companies.

University education in Italy follows the Western European pattern with a curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Public Instruction and with separate faculties in areas including, among others, medicine; engineering; mathematical, physical, and natural sciences (which include chemistry and biology); and agriculture. Graduation from any one of the faculties leads to the title of dottore. There has been considerable pressure for university reform from the students, but the parliament has been slow to act. Among the reforms suggested are the introduction of graduate degrees in research, the adoption of university departments as in universities in the United States, and the granting of greater autonomy to each university. Student disorders have been disruptive and caused the University of Rome to be closed for a time. Reforms in the elementary and middle schools have been made which have introduced modern methods of teaching science and have made the transition easier from middle schools to universities.

Italian scientists and engineers are generally well trained but often lack laboratory experience or specialized training. Educational authorities have sought to make university education more consonant with the needs of industry and technology. Engineering faculties have been reorganized, but in this area, universities cannot expand sufficiently to meet the demand. For the most part, Italian industry trains its own technicians and provides related training for newly employed university graduates. The large government-owned holding company, known as the National Hydrocarbons Authority, trains about 50 engineers each year, and Olivetti has a large training school at Ivrea for its researchers, technicians, and craftsmen.

A shortage of graduate students in Italy has existed because there were neither designated graduate schools nor organized programs of graduate study in the country. In the past, Italy has lost numerous scientists to other European countries and to the United States. According to a recent estimate, Italy has lost some 8,000 research scientists to other countries, principally the United States, in the past 20 years. Although these losses are lower than those suffered, for instance, by the United Kingdom, their effect appears to be far more serious because the Italian research establishment as a whole is proportionately much smaller. The government is studying ways to alleviate the conditions of insecurity

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200080002-5