Right to study, freedom and the future: the University of Padua fundraising for students fleeing conflict-ridden countries

With the Students at risk programme the University of Padua, thanks also to the generosity of many donors, provides numerous scholarships every year to support the reception of people with refugee status, asylum seekers and people fleeing their countries.

According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, some 158,000 migrants landed in Italy in 2023, 50 per cent more than in 2022 and more than 130 per cent more than in 2021. The arduous journeys these people face, without certainty, are often very risky, but perhaps represent one of the few hopes of living freely and not stopping to think about one’s future. Just as many young people from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iran and other at-risk countries arrive in the city of Padua.

On Wednesday 27 June 2024, the meeting in the Aula Nievo, at the Palazzo del Bo, at 5 p.m., will therefore be an opportunity to tell some true stories of young people fleeing from their countries of origin due to conflict, discrimination and restrictions on freedom, but also of hope and redemption. These young women and men are aware of the good fortune that the scholarship represents for them and, by extension, for their families and communities: a valuable opportunity for revenge after troubled hardships.

The event will also be an opportunity to discuss the importance of the right to study, as a tool for affirmation, identity building, freedom and the future, which have always been founding values of our University.

After the greetings of Monica Fedeli,Vice-rector for the Third Mission and Relations with the Territory, a round table will feature contributions from journalist Fausto Biloslavo,Alessandro Russello, editor of Corriere del Veneto, Corriere del Trentino, Corriere dell’Alto Adige and Corriere di Bologna, by Cristiano Corazzari, councillor for Territory, Culture, Security and Migration Flows of the Veneto Region, writer and journalist Pamela Ferlin,Gabriele Verza,director of the Esu of Padua, and, in connection, journalist Toni Capuozzo..

Other speakers included donors Elisa Massacesi, Human Resources Manager of Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals Italy, Rita Chiappa, National Program Director of the Soroptimist Club, and Geneviève Henrot,Professor at the University of Padua and member of the Soroptimist Club.

Participation in the event is free, by registration.