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ENGINEERING BULLETIN

Publisher: All-Russian public organization "Academy of Engineering Sciences named after A.M. Prokhorov".

Foreign Instructors Fighting for Equality at Italian Universities

08.07.2012
There is one group of university teachers in Italy who have reason to regard their counterparts teaching at U.S. study-abroad programs with envy. These are the “lettori” — literally “readers” — widely used here to designate language teachers hired in part for their proficiency in a mother tongue other than Italian. Americans, Britons, Canadians, Chinese, Germans, Latin Americans, Spaniards and Russians — these 1,500 academics have long been responsible for the bulk of foreign language teaching and examining in Italian universities.

They are often hired on contracts known as “co-co-pro” — standing for “contratto di collaborazione a progetto” — which depict them as freelance workers. That means they are routinely denied leave for illness, maternity or bereavement, and are paid less than colleagues teaching Italian or foreign literature.

Teachers working at U.S. universities’ Italian study-abroad programs also often sign “co-co-pro” contracts. However, in the case of the lettori, their second-class condition has been enshrined in Italian law.

In 1980 the Italian Parliament passed a law reorganizing the country’s universities. Teaching staff were divided into full professors, associate professors and researchers. Provisions were also made for nontenure track “contract lecturers,” a category which included all foreign language teachers.

Their vulnerable position outside the departmental system means that in times of austerity, the lettori were first in line for pay cuts — in some cases of half their salary.

Source: The New York Times

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