Education for development - Manfredi

(ANSA) - Udine, June 30 - The president of the Italian Conference of Rectors (CRUI), Gaetano Manfredi, said education is key to sustainable development at the G7 University event, wrapping up Friday with the approval of a Manifesto "There can be no sustainable and inclusive development without an investment in education", said Manfredi. "Today, we can build a better world only by looking at women and men as individuals and giving value to their competence. "This is the message the comes from Udine, I hope our politicians will listen to it. "We have worked on the idea of a global citizenship of education and on tearing down barriers to widen access to higher education, to create more development, increase tolerance, guarantee a more democratic system where diversity prompts common growth", Manfredi explained. "National and supranational policies are necessary" to accomplish this "in terms of investments, processes and rules", he noted. According to Manfredi, universities from G7 countries found common ground in certain values in the Manifesto: "In particular, having the right balance between competition and inclusion, generations, different parts of the world and considering university as a platform to share, a community open to all citizens to build a common future". Manfredi also stressed that university credits should be recognized at a European level, an issue discussed at the G7. "It is very important to have a community in which teachers and students can move with their degrees and work position recognized", he said. He also called for common homogeneous policies and "a European government of processes". In terms of funding, Manfredi urged "appropriate investments because it is necessary to have an education of quality and equal access and opportunities for all". Manfredi concluded saying that Italian universities are good and well-distributed across the country and have contributed to "transform an agricultural country into an industrial power and have built a democratic society". However, he concluded, "we still have too many youths who don't get an education or have difficulty to complete it and are unable to benefit from their sacrifices. "We have to work to build a university that is increasingly inclusive and attractive, in which competence and merit are central".