The Italian PhD scholarship is going to be increased

Earlier this week, the Italian minister of university and research has announced that the monthly scholarship every PhD student in Italy receives will be increased. This are great news, given that the current amount (807 Euro) has been untouched for almost eight years now. The natural reaction to this announcement is of skepticism: first, because one should never trust politicians, and second, because we're in Italy and here things take a while to actually occur.

Let me tell you what I know of this process. At some point, the Prodi administration presented a law to improve the financial conditions of people doing research, mainly PhD students (with and without scholarships ---yes, there are PhD students without scholarships) and untenured researchers (here known as assegnisti di ricerca). Surprisingly enough, the law was successful in the Parliament and was ready to be signed by the minister early this year. For unknown reasons, the guy never signed the law, even if the most difficult part ---the money--- was ready. In those moments of uncertainty, the Prodi goverment fell and everything entered in a stand-by phase. As a result, we had to wait the elections and the designation of a new minister in order to have some progress on the issue. The initiative of getting a raise in the scholarship ---defended by the Italian association of PhD students--- was then thought to be a lost cause until this week.

As a result of the law, the monthly payment should increase in 240 Euro, effective from January 2008, and valid till 2010. This way, one should receive around 1000 Euros each month. Here the uncertainties start: does the recently signed law contain the same terms as the law everyone has in mind? In particular, will amount of the raise and its retroactivity be respected? When will we see the actual raise?

The minister said the raise should be effective "immediately" (actually, in Italian she said "subito", which is one of such Italian words which convey a great deal of uncertainty. Another such words is "mezzoretta", which is strictly translated as "a little half an hour", but actually could mean anything.) As a result, people expect the raise to start in August. Let's see how things evolve. An extremely positive (almost naive) view is to expect an extra payment of around 1700 Euro (the retroactive raise) also in that month. Even if that would be great, I prefer to be skeptical and not to wonder around false expectations. Unfortunately, it is unavoidable to think what to do with that extra money, now that I know a little better the art of surviving in Bologna with 800 Euros. Perhaps I would be able to buy some sound isolating earphones, to buy a new external hard drive or even to get some fancy sunglasses. Of course, a very stupid thing to do in this case ---apart from daydreaming about things to buy with some eventual money--- would be to spend the raise now, trusting in the word of some minister appointed by Berlusconi.

Update (20/06/2008): Reading the official law, the yearly amount has been increased to € 13.638,47 (it was € 10.561,55). It then seems that the raise will be of 240 Euro, after some small deductions. Thanks to Flavio for the link.