MARCO RIVA IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNISG PLACEMENT OFFICE
UNIVERSITY OF GASTRONOMIC SCIENCES

Three Years of Living Heroically

The last academic year (2007-2008) marked the conclusion of the first edition of the three-year undergraduate program in Gastronomic Sciences. About 50 neo-gastronomes completed their studies with the writing of their final theses. In compliance with recent ministerial decrees, the 2008-2009 academic year will offer a new syllabus and program, while last year a two-year Graduate Program in Gastronomy and Food Communications, was launched.

This is the right moment, therefore, to take stock of the situation for the first time, not only in terms of cultural objectives but also of academic aspects. In 2004, the first 73 ‘heroic’ students were admitted to the program, 60 of whom were then enrolled. The number of enrollments, dictated by educational regulations, has obviously been reached every year since then. Selection by entrance test has been strict, to make sure that students are well motivated and suited for the sector. Moreover, since the second year of the University’s life, hardly any firstyear students have dropped out.
The international character of the syllabus has proved effective: of the first group of students, more than 30 percent were non- Italian, with 15 percent coming from non-EU countries (with a prevalence of Americans). Today, as illustrated in Figure 1, which refers to the 210 students or so enrolled in the three-year program, this international representation continues with a significant presence of ‘new’ nationalities.
Given the character of the undergraduate program, some of the lecturers have also been recruited abroad, especially for seminar activities. For example, in the three-year period about 50 non-Italian specialists alternated on curricular or complementary teaching activities. The didactic outcomes of stages and field trips in 20 or so countries in Europe and beyond have also proved important.

Figure 1. Distribution of students currently enrolled by nationality

English is spoken as the teaching and study language (in the first year) and as a communication tool. Hence the strong presence of foreign tutors, researchers and teachers (for example, of the nine internal tutors, five are foreign). The choice of English as a teaching language on a par with Italian demanded the availability of teaching material in both languages. The choice has been confirmed for the Graduate Program, part of which will involve study activities in residence in English-speaking universities.
As a consequence, the first outcome of our ‘adventure’ has been the globalization of students and teachers (albeit within the very strict limits imposed by Italian ministerial regulations). Not that subjects of study have been standardized within the scientific culture of the sector: adopting a global outlook, we have focused on the ‘local’, often with exciting results. In nuce, of the 3,000 hours of total learning activity in which the student is involved in the three-year program, as many as 750 (about 25 percent of total hours) were ‘delegated’ to direct field and product observation activities, a third of which outside Italy.
Any summing-up of didactic performance has to take into account the following classic indicators:
• Of the students who enrolled in the academic year 2004-2005, 83% graduated at the end of the program, an outcome far superior to that of any other equivalent program, and notable given the experimental nature of our initiative
• Of the 50 students who graduated, 18 chose to continue in the graduate program: this was a reassuring figure since the program was regulated on a ‘numerus clausus’ basis.
Another two students joined ‘our’ 18 from other study courses. The prospects for the new academic year of the graduate program seem even more optimistic
• Of the 32 graduates who chose not to continue on to the two-year graduate program, two continued their training in master courses at other universities, while many of the others found immediate employment, in some cases in more than gratifying jobs. All currently have a job: 17, for example, are spending internships in offices or agencies connected with Slow Food. To ease the ‘transit’ into the world of employment, the University has set up a special Placement Office and launched a website (www.unisg-placement.it) to put companies in touch with neo-gastronomes
• The appeal of the three-year undergraduate program has grown: only 65-70 places are available on account of the ‘numerus clausus’ system and logistical constrictions, but this year alone 310 enrollment queries will be screened (160 from non-Italians), whereas an admission test (organized in May) has ensured access to the first year of the program for 20 candidates
• A set of mechanisms (well-equipped campus; residential accommodation; appeal of the program and connected activities; recommended regular attendance) combine to ensure that over 95 percent of students enrolled study on a full-time basis. This result may also be attributed to excellent integration between the University and the local context, which has allowed over 250 students to settle in a particularly hospitable area and urban fabric
• The average grades obtained by students in the various courses (see Figure 2) have been generally good. Furthermore, 50 percent of students sit every exam in the first of the five sessions scheduled every year (that is, at the end of the relevant syllabus) and only 15 percent of them carry exams over to the next year 

Figure 2.
Distribution of average exam grades by student at the end of the program 

• The writing and defense of a final graduation thesis has proved an effective training ground to test the scientific and cultural interests in the new field of studies of gastronomy. The list of the titles of the dissertations (see Table 1) shows the variety of interests cultivated that, over the next few months, could develop into veritable lines of research
• With the introduction of new young lecturers, the university has met (at least as far as the three-year program is concerned) the minimum limits imposed by the ministry and now has a staff of three full lecturers, one associate lecturer, four senior researchers and two junior researchers, while public competitions are underway to recruit another full lecturer, three associate lecturers and two senior researchers
• With an administrative and technical staff of 21, 13 regular lecturers and nine tutors, ours boasts one of the best performances of any Italian (and perhaps world) university in terms of student guardianship. In practice, for every 25 students there are one tutor, 1.5 lecturers/resident researchers and 2.1 technical/administrative collaborators
• The range of facilities offered has proved invaluable and innovative: a 25-seater sensory analysis laboratory, a high-tech multimedia workshop, a laptop for each student, a Wi-Fi network for mobile study and a library open 54 hours a week, boasting a collection of books that is growing constantly and which, as I write, is planning to acquire over 120,000 volumes and take out subscriptions to 25 periodicals specialized in gastronomy
• The bases have been laid to exploit some of the facilities offered to the local university system by the Piedmont Regional Authority: for the present academic year, for example, five visiting professors will be hosted by the UNISG for a period of about six months to collaborate on teaching and research
• In 2007, based on the ratings drawn up from the data of the National Committee for the Evaluation of the University System (CNVSU) and the Ministry for Education (MIUR), UNISG was one of the first ranked in the ‘non-state universities’ category with its number of first-year students according to MIUR parameters, and third for level of excellence according to parameters of educational prowess (that is the number of students enrolled with a high grade on their secondary school diploma), appeal (the number of students enrolled from outside Piedmont), crowding (the ratio between regular lecturers and the number of students attending their courses), dispersion (non-enrollment in the second year), inactivity (the number of students who do not acquire credits in the course of a year), regular graduation (the number of students who graduate at the end of the program), and self-financing (amount of self-generated revenue in the three-year period 2003-2005). In 2008 new parameters were added to research, and university categories were changed, being subdivided into ‘state’, ‘non-state’ and ‘with only one area of study’ (into which the UNISG obviously fits). As a result, the match for the top positions is limited to a handful of universities. Overall, evaluating all the quality indicators and considering a ceiling of 900 points, the University of Gastronomic Sciences scores 540 points and comes twenty-second in a total of 76 universities (60 state, 13 non-state and three ‘with only one area of study’). The result is a flattering one for our university, considering that, for the first three Research indicators (Personnel, Funding, External Funding), no data were available and no points were calculated, just as no data were available for point 8 (Regular graduation)—though we now have these data and they give us impressive results (50 out of 60 regular graduations at the end of the program).

Table 1.
List of degree theses presented in the 2007-2008 academic year 

Now new challenges await the University of Gastronomic Sciences: besides consolidating its programs and lecture courses, it has to establish autonomous research activities capable of attracting outside interests and funding, to internationalize even more while, at the same time, continuing to put down roots locally (partly through synergies across the Piedmontese university system). Aside from the strong media exposure we receive as a result of our kinship with Slow Food, we are addressing the new challenges confidently, conscious that the bases of the work we have done so far are more than solid and that, in a moment of general difficulty for the Italian national system and for the university sector, our experience is a pole star for anyone prepared to gamble on quality.

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