Budget Cuts in Italy: Experienced and Expected Changes in Academic Institutions

Last year, we conducted a global survey of nearly 800 academics, asking questions about budget cuts at their respective institutions for fiscal year 2013, and their expectations for 2014. We wanted to get a sense of the climate around the world in terms of who is still being affected by the economic downturn, and to what extent, in order to better grasp the daily reality for both employers and job seekers.

This post will focus on the responses we received from professionals in Italy. Of those who responded to our survey, 81% reported working in universities, 11% in banks, 6% in think tanks and the remaining 2% in the government. This breakdown included more responses from university employees than any country other than Spain. The results from each of these countries therefore specifically reflect the academic reality more so than the general reality for researchers and other professionals.

Although the number of respondents reporting budget cuts for 2013 was incredibly high, the rates of expected cuts for fiscal year 2014 were lower across the board. This indicates that while Italy is still suffering in all areas from the recession, there is some positive outlook to be taken note of.

Moreover, the percentage of respondents saying their general budget would not be affected by cuts in 2014 (23%) was significantly higher than those who claimed to have not been affected by general budget cuts in 2013 (11%). This indicates that even if budgets are not being expanded, cuts are becoming less widespread. This trend is particularly visible amongst marketing budgets, which aligns with a global tendency.