(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 16 - Italian universities' foreign reach and influence was outlined by University Minister Maria Cristian Messa in a vidoe link from Italy to Expo Dubai 2020 on Wednesday.
    Messa said in addressing a forum titled "The World within our borders - International programmes at Italian universities" that "we have a university system that at first glance may be hard to read, because it is made up of a hundred different public universities, but they are very well connected and compete to improve the teaching of students." She also said that Italian universities were working to become more inclusive and innovative so as to attract more foreign students.
    The forum heard that the presence of foreign students in Italian universities has grown from around 63,000 to more than 101,000 in 10 years, while programmes taught in English have risen from 245 to 539 in the last five years.
    Italian universities showed off their international programmes at the event, stressing their "innovativeness and attractiveness". (ANSA).