Conte not in 'New York University files'

(ANSA) - Rome, May 22 - Doubts emerged Tuesday about proposed Italian premier Giuseppe Conte's claimed studies in New York, Cambridge, Vienna, Pittsburgh and Malta.
    The New York Times quoted a New York University spokesperson as saying that Conte's name does not appear in the institution's files as either a past student or a faculty member.
    The CV of Conte, who the 5-Star Movement and the League have said they want to be the premier of the coalition government they intend to form, on the website of the Italian association of civil lawyers mentions an experience at NYU as part of the "perfectioning" of his studies. The New York Times quoted the spokesman as saying that it was possible Conte had taken part in short courses at NYU, attendance of which does not feature in its archives. Other foreign media on Tuesday raised doubts on Conte's studies in Cambridge and Vienna.
    Austrian news agency APA and Der Standard said that Vienna's International Kultur Institut, where Conte claimed to have perfected his law studies in 1993, was in fact a German-language school called Internationales Kulturinstitut.
    Reuters said Cambridge University said it would not answer inquiries, for privacy reasons, about Conte's claim of a course in September 2001 when the university was closed. One source cited by Reuters said the law professor may have taken a third-party institution course and was therefore not on the university's records.
    Rome's Il Messaggero, meanwhile, said "after New York, also the universities of Malta and Pittsburgh have said (Conte) never taught or studied here".