US embassy cable - 04ROME3527

UNCLAS ROME 003527 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
C O R R E C T E D   C O P Y - CORRECT TAG ADDED:  EAID 
 
DEPT FOR DCHA GEORGE LIKE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, IT 
SUBJECT: PROPOSED SUPPORT TO JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 
BOLOGNA CENTER 
 
REF: STATE 174097 
 
1. Embassy Rome strongly supports Johns Hopkins University's 
request on behalf of the Johns Hopkins University Bologna 
Center for an FY 2005 ASHA grant of $100,000 to procure books 
and journals and to pay the salaries of three professors 
(reftel).  ConGen Florence and Embassy Rome have long had a 
close relationship with the Bologna Center, since 2003 under 
the directorship of former US Ambassador Marisa Lino.  In 
addition, a number of our officers at post are graduates of 
the Center, as are many high-level Italian government 
officials with whom we have regular contact. 
 
2. Founded in 1955, the SAIS Bologna Center is the only 
full-time resident American graduate school of international 
relations in Europe.  Since its creation, the Center has been 
at the cutting edge of international political and economic 
developments.  The Center was among the first institutions of 
higher learning to bridge the gap between East and West.  It 
established links with Eastern Europe long before the fall of 
the Berlin Wall through ties with universities in Krakow, 
Budapest, and Prague.  Since its inception, more than 2,640 
foreign students have graduated from the Center, from 96 
different countries.  In addition to drawing some of the 
best-prepared students from throughout Europe, SAIS Bologna 
attracts students from all over the world, with an increasing 
number of students coming from countries in the Middle East, 
the Far East, Africa, and Latin America.  Nearly all of these 
students require full tuition and stipend fellowships. 
 
3. SAIS is highly regarded in the US, in Italy, and 
internationally for the quality of its instruction, faculty, 
and research.  As educator to students from all over the 
world, who in time will assume top-ranking roles in 
government and business, SAIS Bologna is training a new 
generation of international leaders.  The Bologna Center 
contributes significantly to the formative training of many 
of Italy's -- and other countries' -- foreign affairs 
experts.  Over the nearly five decades of the Center's 
operation, a large number of Italian diplomats, senior civil 
servants, international business executives, economists, and 
researchers have received their masters degrees from SAIS. 
The Center's alumni worldwide include nearly a dozen Foreign 
Ministers and many Ambassadors. 
 
4.  The SAIS Bologna Center is very influential in Bologna, 
home of Italy's premier university.  There is significant 
sharing of information, programs, and faculty between the 
Center and SAIS-Washington, and the University of Bologna and 
the city of Bologna consider SAIS to be an invaluable asset. 
SAIS Bologna operates 100 percent according to the American 
system in an environment that is quite different, and it has 
served to push the University of Bologna, and therefore the 
Italian university system in general, toward change in 
teaching methods and faculty-student relations.  The Bologna 
Center's operation retains great influence, particularly 
since Italian universities tend to be huge and uncaring 
institutions of mass education from which relatively small 
numbers of students graduate.  Even at the graduate level, 
the relationship between faculty and student is usually 
formal, distant, and extremely unequal.  SAIS Bologna 
students and faculty work together more closely and with 
greater mutual respect. 
 
5. Continued ASHA support is critical in allowing the Bologna 
Center to maintain its high quality of graduate education to 
an elite international student body.  Without continued US 
government funding, comparable Italian government funding may 
be lost, and cutbacks would be inevitable in US resident 
faculty, non-American student fellowships, and 
English-language library resources. 
Embassy Rome strongly urges ASHA to provide all possible 
funding to this remarkable institution so that it can 
continue the crucial work it is doing. 
 
Visit Rome's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/rome/index.cf m 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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 2004ROME03527 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED