ROMA (ITALPRESS) – The protection of public resources intended to support the right to university study is strengthened through an increasingly broader and structured collaboration between MUR and Guardia di Finanza. The objective is to further implement the system of prevention and contrast of the conduct of illicit use of public resources allocated by the Dicastery, through a more effective enhancement of data, information and their know-how.
The strengthening of the collaboration was presented, during a press conference, by the Minister of the University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, and by the General Commander of the Guardia di Finanza, Gen. C.A. Andrea De Gennaro, just over two years after the signing of the agreement protocol signed in June 2024. The activity of presidio is not only a goal of legality and proper financial management, but also an instrument of social equity. Ensuring that the resources and services intended for students are effectively recognized to those who have the requirements means protecting students capable and worthy, even if they lack the means.
In this perspective, the collaboration between the Ministry and the Finance Guard will be further strengthened through the extension to the protection of university housing, a strategic measure managed by the Dicastery to promote accessibility to higher education, through the availability of accommodation and residences for students, accompanied by appropriate services and housing standards. Mission 4 – Component 1, Reformation 1.7 of the PNRR, “Support for students and reform of housing legislation for students”, which allowed the total realization of over 63,000 new beds for students outside the office, with resources of 1,2 billion euros.
It is in this context that the initiatives currently in existence are particularly important among the specialist body and the Ministry. In particular, the collaboration will be oriented both to the interventions directly managed by MUR and to the Student Housing Fund managed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, constituted thanks to the revision of the Plan approved in November 2025, in complementarity to Reformation 1.7. and to pursue the same purposes.
In this context, the activities of presidio will focus with particular attention on the verifications of legality and correctness in the management of the new university accommodation, also regarding the work of the managers of the students and the diligent fulfillment of the obligations assumed, including the actual provision of the promised services and the correct application of the practicable rates. The understanding, moreover, is not limited to disciplinary the relations between the two Administrations at the central level, but has given impetus to a model of cooperation articulated also on the national territory. There are 52 protocols of understanding already signed between the Regional or Provincial Commands of the Body and the Regional Organizations for the right to study, as well as with the individual Athens responsible for the investigation and the provision of economic benefits. Thus a capillary collaboration network was developed, built according to shared guidelines at the central level, in which national analysis and coordination are integrated with the knowledge of the territories and the operational capacity of the Departments of the Body. From 1 January 2024 to the present day, the Departments of the Guardia di Finanza have carried out more than 2,100 interventions that have allowed to audit more than 8 million euros provided for scholarships and other benefits for the right to university study, ensuring undue perceptions for more than 1.5 million euros and preventing the provision of an additional million euros unlawfully requested.
The analysis of the individual irregularities observed has allowed to identify, among the most widespread types of illicit, the false attestation of information concerning the editorial and patrimonial position of the family nucleus, its composition and the actual lease, in an honest way, of an accommodation. The operational experience gained by the Departments of the Body has highlighted diversified forms of illicit and, in some cases, real structured fraudulent mechanisms. The attention will now be paid, with particular determination, to the protection of the funds allocated by the Ministry for the creation of new beds, intended to accommodate university students capable and worthy. Protecting university resources means protecting the future of students: this is the most concrete way of collaborating between MUR and Guardia di Finanza.
– Photo xb1/Italpress –
(ITALPRESS).
