Cagliari, €22.5 million for new student housing: the Region is investing in the right to university education.

La Sardinia Region invests on future of young people and the right to university education.

With a total allocation of 22 million and 500 thousand euros, the Regional Council has approved a plan for the construction, completion and expansion of the student housing in Cagliari, with the aim of guaranteeing an ever-increasing number of accommodations and services to deserving students, even those without financial means.

"It's a'action required and has been requested for a long time – said theCouncilor for Public Education, Ilaria Portas– which finally allows those who wish to reach the goal of graduation but encounter difficulties to finally breathe economic or social obstacles. With this intervention we concretely support the right to education and we are breaking down the limits linked to distance from university cities, one of the main causes of dropping out of studies".

The councilor recalled that the Regional Council has already guaranteed in recent years university scholarships and catering services, and now aims to significantly expand the offer of accommodation places.

Satisfaction was also expressed by President of Ersu Cagliari, Marco Meloni, who underlined the historical significance of the measure: “Currently Cagliari has approximately 25 thousand university students, but in the last three years we have never managed to offer more than 400 places. Thanks to this funding and the budget change, we will be able to recover four buildings in three years and, within six years, also the Student House in Via Roma, reaching a number of places compatible with the need and capable of attract students from outside the region and from abroad."

The plan provides targeted redevelopment and expansion interventions in the main university locations of the city:

• 11,6 million euro for extraordinary maintenance work and new furnishings in the Palazzo Vivanet Student Residence in via Roma;

• 3,95 million for the structural recovery of the administrative headquarters in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II;

• 3,2 million for the expansion and furnishing of the university canteen on Via Trentino;

• 1,95 million for the completion of the works in the Student House on Via Trentino;

• 1,8 million for the redevelopment of the building via Santa Margherita, destined to become a new university residence.

The overall intervention – concluded theCouncilor Portas – represents a decisive step towards a more equitable and inclusive public education, able to offer young people concrete opportunities for growth and training, regardless of the starting economic conditions.