Interview to dott. Marco D'Eredità
Vice Secretary General and Registrar of Companies

Dott. D'Eredità, what does the Chamber of Commerce represent within the context of the Treviso University?
The Chamber of Commerce is as a matter of fact the first Public Agency which established a University in Treviso, as far back as 1992, when the Data Processing and Automatic Engineering Courses followed by the Industrial Design courses were launched after a first agreement with the Padua and Venice Universities.
We soon understood that the time was ripe to increase the size of the project.

How was the idea of the CUT (Treviso University Consortium) born?
The commitment of the Chamber of Commerce, agencies and institutions which gradually entered the game was starting to become substantial. Exactly because of the composite nature of the project, for its many diverse aspects and new needs we realised that the presence of a Consortium had become fundamental to manage courses and related activities. The CUT should in fact be given credit for giving consistency to a very complex phenomenon.

But what was the mainspring behind the decision by the Treviso Chamber of Commerce to promote the Treviso University?
The Chamber of Commerce certainly is an aggregation pole for the provincial economic system, one of the most heavily industrialized in the whole country. Beyond its merely institutional functions, the Treviso Chamber of Commerce has always stood out for the many initiatives it has developed to support entrepreneurship.
In view of this we could not possibly ignore the added value arising from the creation of an ad hoc university institution to address the needs of our enterprises. Who in fact is better suited than the Chamber of Commerce to understand the specific and many-sided requirements of such a unique economic context? Obviously, a necessary condition was ongoing dialogue of the forces deployed.

And how would you explain the choice of high specialisation courses?
If on one hand we devised an action plan wholly aimed at companies, on the other hand we wanted to create new and concrete job opportunities for young people. The educational offer as a matter of fact provides for a strong tie to the productive reality of our province. In this way the figure of the qualified/non-graduate technician has been transformed into a more specialised figure, such as the graduate technician.
Moreover, the dialogue among parties has always been a point of honour with Treviso's Courses, as is proved by the in-company workshop and training activities. The result is two-fold: our companies today can draw from a pool of better qualified technicians, able to provide specific competences, and the technicians can rely on an educational grounding which can be spent on the labour market.

Should we only consider the technical-scientific domain for Courses in Treviso, then?
This certainly is the trend, for the reasons we have discussed above. But the awareness that very different realities coexist in the province and that the humanities sphere has certainly marked our territory opens up another great opportunity. Humanities degree courses have, in fact, recently been introduced in Treviso, to complete and offset the limits of purely scientific knowledge. I am confident that with time this area of knowledge will see increasing opportunities for growth and expansion.

And what about Industrial Design?
Among the many adventures initiated by the Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Design Course, Faculty of Design and Arts possibly represents our showpiece.
The "Triennial Degree Course" was launched in the 2001/2002 academic year, and immediately attracted approximately 360 students, partly joining also from pre-existing Diploma Courses. The first graduates were as early as June 2002. The Product Industrial Design specialisation biennium, designed to complement the academic path, started In 2002/2003, and it will have 410 students/year when fully operative.
This Course sums up all the aspects characterising our learning routes: strictly tailored to suit company activities, internships, a first-hand experience of working life already before obtaining the diploma or degree, high recruitment levels in the great majority of cases.

Are the "internships" you speak of really innovative?
The experience students gain while practising within a company can be considered positive at all levels. We have chosen, however, to devote more attention to the integration phase and to ensure students get a job which is really educational and above all consistent with their requests. It is training in all respects. The Industrial Design Course is in fact based on actual research and surveys of the labour market.

Can one speak of "pure research", then?
Not exactly. In our local context doing pure research would lead us away from our original intentions. For us research is valuable if it can be applied concretely. Let us not forget that our project is carried out also thanks to financial efforts which dig deep in our pockets, therefore our commitment is especially aimed at sourcing logistic resources and supporting some university costs.

Would you consider yourself satisfied with the results you have obtained, then?
In light of the facts, after eleven years, we can be proud of the many objectives we have reached and we can look with optimism at what we have created. We will continue being receptive to the stimuli to take on new challenges and travel new routes which have led us so far in this sector. Looking ahead, with the experience we have acquired, has always been and will continue being our winning card.