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Anna Pellegrino Politecnico di Torino 26 LUCE 327 / FORMAZIONE projects, up to starting new relations with public commissioning bodies, and an integrated management of information and decisional processes.” Some are proud to point out the progress, as in the case of Milan and the Polytechnic, which is the case, in particular, of a professor who teaches there since many years. “In Italy the education of lighting designers is a critical topic”, Maurizio Rossi, professor of the School of Design of the Polytechnic University of Milan Bovisa, states. “Even though our country is the second most important manufacturer of lighting fixtures in Europe, in Italy there are no graduate courses dedicated specifically to the Lighting project. This condition, in Italy, does not depend on the scarce number of professors who teach courses in Lighting engineering in other graduate courses, but involves the competent ministry, with which a coordinated initiative should be carried out by the manufacturers associations, Assil and Assoluce, with the support of Aidi and Apil. With the current laws, to start new graduate courses is practically impossible. In fact, the professors who teach this subject, teach Thermodynamics, Electronic engineering and only some teach Design.” The institute where Maurizio Rossi is a professor is the exception that proves the rule. He teaches at the School of Design a technical-scientific-cultural outpost, with excellent credentials: in fact, in the 2018 QS World University Ranking, the school was fifth on a global scale, and the first out of the public universities. “Starting back in 2003,” Rossi continues, “we started a high-level education post- graduate master-course in Lighting Design & LED Technology, in English. 70 per cent of the participants come from abroad and we had to enforce a closed number of students in order to guarantee a high level of education, organized in two classes per year.” In fact, we have a large number of students. The master-course receives over 150 applications a year from industrial and professional contexts, from all over the world. “With regard to participation and positioning, the numbers of our master-course are similar if not better than analogous courses at Parsons New York, UCL London, KTH Stockholm and Hochschule Wismar,” the professor concludes proudly. “The reason of this success lies in the strong polytechnic characteristic that we gave the course from the very beginning. Before introducing the students of the courses to the project culture, we tackle the scientific and technological aspects, which are updated on the basis of inputs we receive from the industrial world.” From the Milan Polytechnic to the Turin Polytechnic, the distance is short. However, there are many differences, especially with regard to the reference manufacturing context. The presence of the leading lighting design companies in the former case, and a context of medium and small sized companies in the latter. A difference that inevitably is felt, also with regard to the relation between the university and the territory. “The manufacturing context in Turin,” as Anna Pellegrino, professor at the department of Energy of the Turin Polytechnic, who has been teaching Lighting engineering since many years in the graduate course of Architecture, explains, “consists mainly of small and medium sized companies. This datum is also true for the professional future of our students, who are increasingly attracted by internship experiences abroad, in Holland and Germany in particular. Nevertheless, in the workshops for students in Architecture we can count on the presence of operators and technicians from the manufacturing sector. These are not courses that are planned with the companies in the sector or professional associations, but from our own initiatives to provide students with operative instruments to find future employment. Unfortunately, when we speak of a gap between demand and supply in the lighting design sector, we must also bear in mind the manufacturing context, where the universities are located.” Apart from the context, teaching Lighting engineering at the Turin Polytechnic has a consolidated history handed down over the years, and it is taught in the graduate course of Thermodynamics and Technical Engineering, and at times also in Design. It is a university that keeps strong ties with the territory of reference, in particular with Town Councils dealing with Lighting design projects for the cultural heritage, urban spaces and monument buildings. “Certainly, we also work outside the context of the area of Turin,” the professor of the Polytechnic continues, “as can be seen in the workshops that were held in Taormina for the Lighting design project of the archeologic park of Isola Bella or for the Schisò castle in Giardini-Naxos, Messina; or, near us in Turin, for the lighting design projects for the Reggia of Venaria Reale.” Overcoming the limitations of traditional teaching and competition among universities: here is a positive example, the university of Roma Tre. In fact, in the faculty of Architecture there is a master course in Lighting design, which was started about fifteen years ago by Corrado Terzi, and the two faculties of