University, new accommodation and information desks in Lazio

University, new accommodation and information desks in Lazio: it is the first region for scholarships

New university accommodation, information desks and scholarships for all eligible winners. This is the plan put in place and, in part, already implemented by Lazio Disco, the Region’s right to education body. The extraordinary commissioner of Disco Lazio, Giorgio Ciardi, explained it in an interview with “Agenzia Nova”. In particular, from the next academic year new university accommodation will open between the province of Frosinone and Rome, for a total of approximately 400 beds. These are newly built structures or ones to be renovated because they are not up to standard. On June 6th a construction site will open in via del Mandrione, in Rome, “where we will renovate one of our properties that is not up to standard, with a series of energy efficiency interventions”, specified Ciardi. As regards the new accommodation, “we are talking with the University of Tor Vergata in Rome precisely to implement the accommodation offer with a building within the grounds of the university itself”: the hypothesis being evaluated is that of a student hall with between 50 and 100 places. In December, however, the delivery of the construction site in the Pietralata area, Sdo area (Eastern management system), a structure with over 200 beds, is expected. “It is the first artefact that was created and defined within what was the eastern directional system. We will deliver the first property as Disco Lazio on land that was granted to us by La Sapienza University”, Ciardi pointed out.

Interventions are planned in other provinces of Lazio, especially in Cassino, in the province of Frosinone, “where the development of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio is underway”, recalled Disco Lazio commissioner Ciardi. In this case there is a property “that has major static problems, we are working on the design, demolition and reconstruction of the same with around 50 beds – he explained -. We then have a series of interventions that private individuals are doing, with public funding, such as that of the Pnrr, in which a portion must be reserved for right-to-study bodies, such as Disco Lazio, which we will make available to students, under the same conditions as the residences we own”. Regarding timing, some structures “will be ready as early as the next academic year. Furthermore, with the extraordinary maintenance activity that we will carry out this summer, we will be able to make available the accommodation that was not accessible”, added Ciardi. In detail, for the academic year 2024-25 “the properties in the Sdo area in Pietralata and that of Mandrione will become fully operational. Finally, the tender for the second lot of the Ostia student residence will start in September, another property under concession from the INPS”. Work will begin in autumn and another 80 places are expected.

The university residences this summer, for the first time since the Covid emergency, they will be closed in the months of August and September. With the pandemic, Disco Lazio “had kept the structures open, because many young people could not return to their cities and towns of origin. But this choice has continued for too long – observed Commissioner Ciardi -. We need 2 months a year to carry out extraordinary maintenance interventions inside the residences, which cannot be carried out with the presence of students”. The Lazio Disco regulation provides that accommodation is available for 10 months a year. However, “no action has been taken for years extraordinary maintenance works, because previous regional administrations did not finance this type of intervention. So we find ourselves, in the space of two months, having to deal with many small but big problems that the students themselves have highlighted during this academic year”, clarified Ciardi.

Disco will also soon open some physical branches to provide information to students on scholarships, accommodation, canteens and services offered. “Ours is an institution that obviously caters to a very wide audience: we have over 50 thousand applications for scholarships a year. So we need an absolutely transparent administrative policy,” he continued Ciardi. The institution manages around 3 thousand student accommodation, canteen services and a series of direct relationships with the student world: “this puts us in the position of having to be able to give a variety of answers – underlined the commissioner -. This is why we have always worked and in a few days we will also open physical branches to offer useful information to young people who want to use our services. In 2020 the physical branches they were suspended due to the Covid issue. We have now passed that critical phase. So I thought it appropriate to give these instructions to the offices, to allow students to communicate directly with the institution”.

Lazio is the first Italian region for university scholarships awarded, with over 150 million euros spent for the 2023-2024 academic year, between regional resources, the Pnrr and the Ministry of Education. There were minimal delays, “of a few weeks, because the ministry had not yet sent us the funds – Ciardi specified -. Therefore, a delay in receiving state funds which also put other regions in difficulty, but in Lazio it was resolved with its own resources. There are Regions that have not managed to exhaust the rankings”, the commissioner further explained. In particular, for the scholarships made available through Disco Lazio, all 5,653 eligible students waiting to be included in the ranking of the “Right to study 2023-2024 announcement” were declared winners. In total, therefore, for the 2023-24 academic year, the Lazio Region has allocated over 179 million euros for approximately 35 thousand students. “For next year we are preparing to be able to respond in the same way to all those who are eligible for the scholarship,” assured Ciardi. Finally, the Disco Lazio commissionership expires on 13 July. “Then the Lazio Region must identify the Board of Directors and the President – ​​he observed -. A year of administration is no small thing, even if the institution, under previous administrations, was under administration for 5 and a half years. So when someone tries to create scandal from this point of view, they do so absolutely in bad faith”, concluded Ciardi.