News Desk
KARACHI: The Italian Consulate in Karachi has since long promoted University cooperation between Italy and Pakistan, as evidenced by a sizable and growing number of Pakistani students who choose Italy as their destination for Higher Education as well as by the joint-research projects undertaken with benefits for both countries. It is especially important today to invest in the younger generations providing them with wider opportunities and promoting scientific and technical knowledge and cultural exchanges.
Prof. Roberto Tottoli, Chancellor of the University of Naples L’Orientale is visiting Karachi on the invitation of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA). The visit of Prof. Tottoli to Karachi highlights the Italian Consulate’s efforts to strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation. L’Orientale University of Naples has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Karachi, which was signed in 2022 and is envisaging establishing a long-term cooperation with IBA.
Prof. Tottoli’s expertise lies in Arabist studies, Islamic history, and Arabic Qur’anic manuscript traditions. L’Orientale University also has a Department of Urdu language and culture.
The CG of Italy Danilo Giurdanella accompanied Chancellor Tottoli to meet both the Vice Chancellors of IBA and University of Karachi to discuss further possibility of cooperation.
The growing interest of students in Sindh and Balochistan in pursuing Higher Education in Italy is increasing, with over 600 students from Sindh and Balochistan having gone to Italy for graduate, postgraduate, and doctorate degree programs in the past year. The Universitaly portal provides a step by step guidelines for students to access top universities in Italy. The Italian system of Higher Education includes around 144 institutions, most of them being public sector universities imparting excellence in research and education. Four out of ten oldest universities in the world are Italian and these are the University of Bologna (1088), the University of Padua (1222), the “Federico II” University of Naples (1224), and the University of Siena (1240).
The influx of Pakistani students to Italy has significantly increased during the last few years as leading universities in Italy offer degree programs taught in English and hence has become a popular destination for higher education.
The exchanges between Italian and Pakistani universities have been primarily in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, medicine and technology with several top Italian universities engaged in Pakistan. With the visit of Prof. Tottoli to Karachi, besides academic cooperation in varied discourses and disciplines, the Consulate of Italy in Karachi is aiming for bilateral promotion of Italian and Urdu language between Italian and Pakistani universities that aims to promote teaching of Italian language in Sind and promotion of Urdu language in Italy.
