Interview: China is third most represented country at Milan's Bocconi University: president

Among the foreign students attending Bocconi University here, China is the most represented country after France and Germany, Bocconi president and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Monti attended the fourth edition of the Bocconi global alumni conference held in Shanghai on March 11, an international event that the Bocconi alumni association organizes each year in a city between Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

"Today we have 21 exchange agreements with Chinese universities, involving around 100 students annually. In 2015, some 140 internships were held in China, where we regularly have placement initiatives and our alumni community counts more than 500 people," he explained to Xinhua.

An important contribution to the formation of this community, he noted, has been given by the double degree in international management with the school of management of Fudan University in Shanghai that a few days ago celebrated its 10-year anniversary.

"Since its first edition in 2006, more than 470 students, both Italian and Chinese, have completed the program, which was expressly created to form managers able to operate in the two countries and in an international context," Monti said.

"Job sectors of our graduates vary from the most characteristic ones of the Made in Italy -- furniture, fashion, luxury and food -- to finance, automotive and consulting," he said. These young generations able to act in cross-cultural environments significantly contribute to the positive development of bilateral relations by enhancing mutual knowledge and also diversity, a treasure for global organizations, he pointed out.

In Shanghai, Monti also met some Chinese graduates who are now working in China or have studied in other countries and have then decided to take a master's degree at Bocconi University.

Monti found Chinese young generations very curious and open to the world. According to the Organization for the Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD), he noted, in 2012, students from China accounted for 22 percent of all international students enrolled in tertiary education in the OECD area.

Monti said Bocconi aimed to attract more talented Chinese students. He also added his university had launched the project of an additional campus in Milan provided with all kinds of sports, arts, and leisure facilities to offer more comfortable accomodation to international students and professors.

"Bocconi is specialized in economy, management, law and social sciences, so that our research is focused on these fields with the ambition to support international studies and help social, economic and political progress," he elaborated.

For example, Monti told Xinhua, this year a new bachelor in governance and international institutions kicked off at Bocconi University attracting a number of students. "We believe that these themes -- how to govern a society, how to cope with all subjects of power and different cultural traditions -- are decisive for the future of humankind," he stressed. Endit