Today, Friday, January 16, Prof. Anna Giorgi was a guest on the television programme GEO, broadcast on Rai 3, one of the most widely followed science and environmental outreach programmes on Italian television.
During her appearance, Prof. Giorgi – Head of UNIMONT and Delegate of the Rector of the University of Milan for the enhancement of mountain territories – presented UNIMONT, the University of Milan’s Centre of Excellence, outlining its strategic role in education, research, and third mission activities, namely dialogue and collaboration with public and private bodies and institutions aimed at enhancing and developing mountain areas.
It emerged how UNIMONT represents a virtuous example of cooperation between a large metropolitan university and local authorities, capable of establishing a fully-fledged university hub in a small mountain municipality. A “bridge” that fosters dialogue and exchange between cities – increasingly populated and rich in infrastructure and services, yet poor in natural environments – and mountain communities which, conversely, are losing residents and services but safeguard valuable natural resources to be protected and enhanced.
A dialogue of mutual benefit, a cross-fertilisation that supports the definition of new, more balanced and resilient development models, now necessary both in mountain areas and in cities.
In this context, UNIMONT is configured as a laboratory of methodological and operational innovation, a reference point for the enhancement and development of mountain areas, founded on an alliance between national and international institutions and local and global communities. The recent establishment of a Master’s Degree programme taught entirely in English is, in fact, attracting young people from all over the world.
During the episode, the importance of investing in young people and innovation was also emphasised, through study and research programmes carried out entirely at the mountain campus, capable of addressing the main challenges facing contemporary mountain regions: from depopulation to climate change, and the protection and enhancement of the specific resources of these territories.
Participation in the programme represented an important opportunity to present UNIMONT’s commitment to the general public in combining scientific knowledge, education, and knowledge transfer, contributing concretely to the sustainable development of mountain areas.
▶ Watch the recording by click here.
The segment begins at minute 1:34.
