Luigi Berlinguer

Interview

• "The technological reform of schools" (Venice, 07/03/1997)
• "Operation 5000 dishes: RAI and the Ministry of Education introducing new media in schools"(Rome, 21/01/1999)

Biography

Luigi Berlinguer was born in Sassari, 25 July 1932. He graduated in law from the University of Sassari and began his academic career as an assistant lecturer and then as Professor of "Exegesis of the Origins of Italian Law" (1968-1969). In 1963 he became a Member of Parliament and a member of the National Direction of the Italian Communist Party. From 1962 to 1966 he was also Mayor of Sennori (SS).

From 1968 to 1973 he was a member of the Administrative Council of Monte dei Paschi of Sienna and, from 1969 to 1970, Professor of the History of Political Institutions in the Faculty of Law in Sienna.

From November 1970 he taught in the Faculty of Jurisprudence in Sassari and, in 1972, became Professor of the History of Political Institutions in the same faculty.

In 1973 he moved to Sienna where he was appointed to the chair of "Exegesis of the Origins of Italian Law" and nominated President of the Commission of Ateneo. Between 1975 to 1985 he served several times as a local councillor in Sardinia and as a regional councillor in Tuscany.

From 1984 to 1987 he was director of the Department of Political Science and History of Italian Law at the University of Sienna.

From 1985 to 1994 he was rector of the University of Sienna. During that period he was also Secretary General of the Permanent Conference of Rectors.

In 1986 he was appointed Minister of Education and a member of the Ministerial Commission for University Development. During the same year he was awarded the title "Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic".

During this time he was also co-ordinator of the study group of the CNR (Italian Science Foundation), publisher of the newspaper Democrazia e Legge, member of the Italian History of Law Society and the Italian Historians Society and member of the "Accademia degli Intronati" of Sienna.

In 1988 the Department of Public Functions appointed him to evaluate training proposals and the reorganisation of the College of Public Administration. That year he also became a member of the Technical and Scientific Committee, an organisation created by Presidential decree to promote co-operation between the Public Administration, colleges of higher education, universities and public bodies.

In 1990 he was elected President of CONICS (Inter-university Consortium for Co-operation and Development), a member of the National Science and Technology committee and a member of the Ministerial Commission for the evaluation of Scientific and Technological Parks.

In 1991, when the PDS (Democratic Party of the Left) was formed, he became a member of the party’s directorate. In 1993 he was awarded an honorary law degree from the University of Toronto (Canada) and the University La Plata (Argentina).

In 1994, as a candidate for the Progressives, he was elected to the House of Deputies and nominated President of the Progressista-federativo group, a position he held until the House was dissolved.

He was Minister of Education in the Prodi government and, ad interim, for Universities and Scientific and Technological Research.