Munich

A tax on smoking could deflect a funding crisis that set off widespread protests at Italian universities last week — including the dramatic mass resignation of the leaders of all 72 Italian public universities.

The university rectors handed their resignations to the minister of universities and research after the Italian parliament's chamber of deputies approved a 3% cut in the universities' budget for next year. The rectors had been lobbying for an increase in overall budget to cover the increased costs of salaries, which are fixed centrally.

“We were being pushed to breaking point,” says Piero Tosi, rector of the University of Siena and head of the Italian University Rectors' Conference. “We decided to resign because we were no longer able to assure our essential services for teaching and research.”

Italian students have expressed concern over the declining competitiveness of their universities, and possible increase in fees, in a series of demonstrations and occupations of university buildings.

Many professors are particularly worried about the consequences of the budget squeeze for research, as most universities' funds are tied up in salaries, with little left over to support core activities. “Cutting the budget would not affect the lives of those professors who do nothing anyway,” says Dario Braga, a chemist at the University of Bologna, “but would hurt only the dynamic members of the faculty who want to do research.”

But the universities also attracted criticism from some academics, who say they should sort out their management problems before asking for more money. The universities were given autonomy in 1994 after decades of centralized administration. Since then, complains Francesco Giavazzi, an economist at Bocconi University in Milan, they have expanded unwisely. “These organizational issues need to be fixed, otherwise extra money would only go to waste,” he says.

Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti says that he hopes not only to maintain the university budget at the 2002 level, but also to create a €200-million (US$200-million) research fund to be spent at the discretion of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The measures may well persuade the rectors to withdraw their resignations, but are unlikely to please Italy's smokers — Tremonti plans to fund his proposal with a 10-cent tax on a packet of cigarettes.