Silvio Berlusconi has attracted a good deal of controversy since he first became Italys prime minister in 1994, and this looks set to continue if his plans for a new university come to fruition. In late April Berlusconi invited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to become the first lecturer at an institution that the Italian leader intends to build near Milan. Putin readily accepted the offer, according to the Italian prime minister.The institution will be called lUniversita del Pensiero Liberale (the University of Liberal Studies) and Berlusconi looks set to try to lure a number of current and former world leaders to join as lecturers. Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Mikhail Gorbachev have all been mentioned in Italy in relation to the initiative.
However the choice of Putin to spearhead the project has raised eyebrows — many would argue that the former KGB head has done little to enhance liberalism in his own country. Some have poured scorn on Berlusconis initiative, saying that it smacks of little more than opportunism and self-aggrandisement. In particular, the attempt to woo Putin has also led commentators to suggest sarcastically that Berlusconi could invite other advocates of ‘liberalism such as Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko and the Libyan ruler Muammer Gaddafi to teach at his private academy.
Yet others believe that the Italian leader is motivated by a sincere political vision. Comments Anna Bull, professor of Italian and European studies at the University of Bath: Berlusconis idea is to set up an institution able to challenge the dominance of Leftist thought in Italy and help shape and train the future political and ruling class of the country.
Prof. Bull adds that the project would entail developing a private campus-style university with four faculties: economy and commerce; law; political science; and communications… It will not impact directly on the state university system, but it may accelerate a trend towards the private sector in providing secondary and higher education.
One of the Italian academys most renowned private institutions is Bocconi University in Milan. It has existed for more than a century and claims to have an admirable record of students securing jobs once they have completed their courses. Comments the rector of the university Guido Tabellini: About 80 to 90 percent of our graduates find the job of their choice within six months of leaving.
Berlusconi may have been keeping a keen eye on developments at Bocconi, given that it is located near one of his oft-noted stomping grounds. If the experience of Bocconi is anything to go by, his overtures to foreign leaders are likely to be addressed as much to the worlds aspirational youth as to the potential lecturers themselves: two-thirds of the universitys MBA students hail from abroad. The Italian prime minister no doubt will have taken note of that statistic.

(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)