University of Sassari, employee protests: "There are fewer and fewer of them, and the workload is disproportionate. The University isn't just about teaching positions."
The letter: "60 teachers will be hired, but no positions for technical-administrative staff."Per restare aggiornato entra nel nostro canale Whatsapp
A silent voice. It's that of the technical, administrative, and library staff of the University of Sassari, who have expressed their discontent in an open letter.
"In six years, we've lost 12 percent, and teaching staff 2 percent," they report. It's a war report, to which 29 workers have chosen to transfer to other institutions are added. In the three-year period 2026-28, 55 layoffs are expected. And, as the note reports, "the staffing points of the extraordinary national plan have been allocated entirely to teaching staff."
But that's not all. "On Thursday, October 8th, the Academic Senate approved, thanks to ministerial co-financing and regional funds, the recruitment of approximately sixty additional faculty members compared to the regular program . Not a single technical-administrative staff member will join them."
The driving force behind the University's machinery, the very thing that ensures the essential administrative and technical work, is being lost . Olbia , with its Department of Innovation, is perhaps the most striking example. "Regional law no. 20 of September 21, 2026, allocates three million euros a year until 2042—fifty-one million in total—and ties it to the recruitment and careers of researchers, associate professors, and full professors. For those who will be running a department one hundred kilometers from their headquarters, with a bachelor's degree and three master's degrees already announced, the law doesn't provide a cent. According to estimates presented to the Senate, at least six people are needed, which to date aren't available."
The pattern would then seem destined to repeat itself: fewer and fewer people managing "a disproportionate amount of work." And while the new rector, Omar Chessa , announces that he will review the Olbia project, ensuring there will be no transfer of resources from one location to another, the staff agrees, but "on one condition." "That the University's balance is not measured solely by departments and scientific sectors," they emphasize. "So far, in the entire sustainability debate, the technical and administrative staff have never been mentioned. A plan that continues to ignore them will be unsustainable, whoever signs it, and it will find us opposed."
The Magnificent, and the academic bodies, are therefore asked that "a significant portion of the staffing points of the extraordinary plan be reallocated to the recruitment of technical-administrative staff."
Other requests: "A review of the workloads and staffing levels of each facility, and that no new course, department, or location be opened without a prior assessment of the staff required to support it."
Finally, we ask the Region, "to amend the Olbia funding rules in the upcoming stability law so that they also include technical and administrative staff, and to no longer limit university funding to teaching staff only."
" A university isn't just about professorships ," he concludes. "Without the people who enroll students, announce competitions, keep accounts, and open laboratories, new departments remain mere announcements."
The unions that signed the letter are Flc Cgil, Federazione Cisl Università, Fgu Gilda Università, Federazione Uil-Rua, and Snals-Confsal.