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The Newspaper in the University
For the last 10 years, the mission of the Permanent Observer: Youth and Media has been to bring the younger generations to come to appreciate again a critical and attentive reading of newspapers in order to add and to contribute to the efforts of all those individuals and institutions whose wish it is to turn our youth into the free citizens of tomorrow. By becoming part of the project the "Daily Newspaper in the Classroom" an entire generation has started out on a journey that will bring them closer to the newspapers by developing in them a new habit, that of reading the daily newspapers with a greater and more critical awareness.
In order to guarantee that this activity is ultimately put to good use, the Osservatorio Permanente Giovani - Editori has decided to continue to carry out this assistance to the young even throughout their years in the university after they have completed the upper grades of secondary education.
It was out of this desire that in February 2007 we gave rise to a new initiative that we called the "The Newspaper in the University", an initiative that is attempting to become part and parcel of the Italian University.
A trial run of this project was launched in the period of February to June 2007. The project enabled us to involve 63 professors in 25 different universities in order to collect a large enough sample that would enable us to test a new format that had been developed by a very diverse input group of university professionals. The test phase has allowed the Osservatorio Permanente Giovani - Editori to structure the project in a flexible format that we defined as "media education;" the model mandated that we send to each participating professor a number of copies of newspapers (Corriere della Sera, Il Sole 24 Ore and QN) as the necessary didactic material for their activities.
In light of the success that the pilot program received in the first few months of the test, the Observer promoted a new experiment in the course of the academic year 2007-2008; this experiment turned out to cover the entire scholastic year and saw the participation of 162 professors in 74 universities. Their participation was carried out in total autonomy and didactic and methodological independence. This longer experimentation has allowed us to structure and develop the program in four different disciplinary sectors: Communications, Law, Training and Economics. This time, the Osservatorio was able to offer the interested professors a real contract on the execution of a really strong and culturally sound program to take to the classroom along with a number of copies of some of the major Italian newspapers in exchange for the commitment that they would use their teaching skills to put to use both the program and the newspapers.
The academic year 2008-2009 saw a new edition of the project "The Newspaper in the University" one that kept the annual character of experimentation it had adopted from the beginning and this time we were able to reach out to 142 professors in 75 universities. The project format has remained essentially unchanged from the one we originally tested and consolidated and which has allowed our participating professors once more to have the kind of support and teaching tools that allow them to use the newspapers in order to guide their students to gain a more critical understanding of how the media function.
"The Newspaper in the University" will continue to be sponsored by the Osservatorio Permanente Giovani - Editori for the academic year 2009-2010.
The new edition will be updated with all the previous experiences and suggestions that both professors and students have contributed to the project.
