MILAN (ITALPRESS) – The 16th Academic Year of the Milan Polytechnic was inaugurated today, in a ceremony that focused on the value of responsibility, knowledge and cohesion in a global context strongly polarized, marked by deep tensions and transformations. At the heart of the inaugural speech is the role of the university as an intermediate body, able to sew an image of a whole that gives sense to change through the exercise of critical thinking and a careful reflection on the role of technology. Global vision, European identity and science diplomacy protagonists of the next Strategic Plan 2026-28.
Among the major innovations, the launch of three three-year degrees in English dedicated to engineering. The Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala, the Councillor at the University, Research and Innovation of Lombardy Region Alessandro Fermi, the President of the Student Council Michele Gaetano Giussani, the Director of the Politecnico di Milano Donatella Sciuto and President Mario Draghi. The Rector recalled that civilization becomes fragile when renouncing to question itself, warning that polarization, disinformation and geopolitical tensions are likely to weaken mutual trust. “But as today we need free spaces in which to exercise our autonomy, far from autocratic logic,” said the Rector, reaffirming the role of the university as a chair of critical thinking, dialogue and civil responsibility.
The Rector illustrated the main objectives of the next three years, indicating in scientific diplomacy a crucial strategic lever. Between 2023 and 2025 the Polytechnic promoted over sixty international research and cooperation initiatives, consolidated projects with African countries (+25%), started eight partnerships with UN agencies and received confirmation of the fourth renewal of the two UNESCO Chairs activated in 2012. “The Polytechnic of Milan is at the centre of a new scientific diplomacy, offering expertise in the service of peace and international collaboration,” said Sciuto. Within this global vision, Europe has a priority position. The University will open in 2026 a permanent chair in Brussels to strengthen dialogue with the European institutions, even in view of the next Programme FP10 square. An example of the direction taken by the University, in response to the European need to bridge the innovation gap that Draghi speaks about in the Report on Competition – is the Tech Europe Foundation (TEF), a reality shared with Bocconi University, ION Foundation, FSI and Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi, which has already collected 120 million euros, funded over fifty researchers and launched programs dedicated to the development of scientific entrepreneurship. A central part of the speech was dedicated to Europe, described as a cultural horizon and shared identity, as well as a political and scientific space.
The rapporteur noted that Europe’s competitive capacity in technological transitions will depend on the reduction of internal fragmentation: “A Europe which, born of the ideals and the illusionist pushes, is today having to reflect on its fractures, the victim of an internal dissent never healed; incapable of decisively facing global challenges that, on the scientific and technological level, see it relegated to a second floor position in the world chessboard.” In 2025 the Polytechnic recorded the most historical of international students: almost 9,000 registered, of which over 6,000 magistrali. From September 2026 three new three-year degrees will be activated in English – Engineering Science (in Milan), Industrial Engineering (in Piacenza), Process Engineering (in Cremona) – characterized by strong multidisciplinary and orientation to global collaboration. “They are paths that fit into our responsibility towards the new generations in a framework of international competition, offering tools to interpret a complex world, enhancing the excellence of our territories” added the Rector. The Polytechnic reaffirmed an inclusive approach that guarantees the coverage of the right to study for 100% of the more than seven thousand eligible, thanks to 9.5 million euros of own resources.
Donatella Sciuto then recalled the Unicore project (University Corridors for Refugees) with UNHCR, with nine refugee students welcomed in the two-year period, and scholarships for students from war zones. “The most authentic meaning of our mission lies in the individual trajectories that cross and renew themselves in our classrooms,” said the Rector. Ceremony has highlighted the twenty student teams engaged in international competitions that involve about nine hundred students each year and represent a model of collaboration, creativity and interdisciplinary vision that embraces 16 nations and four continents. Student competitions are a metaphor for the University’s investment on young people and their ability to relate to new challenges globally. The results achieved by the Polimi Sailing Team, the ACM Team Polimi, the Polimi Trust Onrust Team and PoliMove, symbols of the design capacity of the student community. “The Polytechnic community is united by a thread that crosses generations, ideas and responsibilities” concluded the Rector “The future is not the destiny that awaits us: is a thread that keeps generations united through the ideas and hands of those who choose to build it. Where thought unites, nothing is lost.”.
– photo office printing PoliMi –
(ITALPRESS).
