SHARE
COPY LINK

EDUCATION

This 70-year-old Italian holds the world record for number of uni degrees

Boffins eat your hearts out: the world record holder for the number of university degrees is a cheery but truculent 70-year old Italian.

This 70-year-old Italian holds the world record for number of uni degrees
Baietti surrounded by just a few of his degrees. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Luciano Baietti lives in the town of Velletri in the Alban Hills near Rome and spends his days pottering around his small house and garden.

But at every morning at 3am he pulls out his textbooks and starts studying.

He now holds 15 bachelors or masters degrees from universities across Italy, and is already embarking on his 16th.

“Thanks to books, I feel free, dammit,” he tells AFP. “After all, the words share the same root,” he says, referring to the Italian words libro (book) and libero (free).

The certificates proving his prowess hang on the walls of his study, framing a portrait of the 19th century French essayist, Louis- Francois Bertin, whom he cites as an influence.

Passion for a challenge

“He was a man of culture and knowledge,” said Baietti, a former headmaster of a secondary school, who made it into the Guinness Book of Records in 2002 with his eighth degree, that time in motor skills.

At that point he already had degrees in sociology, literature, law, political science and philosophy, most from Rome's prestigious La Sapienza University, one of the oldest in the world.


Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Since then he's added seven others to his list, including one in criminology, a distance-learning one in military strategies from Turin, and the latest in tourism from an online university in Naples, which he was awarded at the start of this month.

“Each time I set myself a new challenge, to see how far my body and my brain can go,” says Baietti, who started life as a sports teacher.

His long-suffering wife, some 30 years his junior, describes Baietti
affectionately as “a real character” who is known throughout their town.

He got most of the qualifications under his belt while also doing his day job and volunteering with Italy's Red Cross.

This ageing eternal student's first degree was in physical education in 1972 – and he fell instantly in love with the academic world.

“As well as the sporting events, there were modules in theory which I liked, and which gave me a taste for studying,” he says.

'I surprised myself'

The most challenging and unusual degree so far has been the military strategies one: “It was co-organized by the defence ministry and Turin University and dealt with sensitive subjects related to national security”.

“We had to attend the exams in uniform,” he recalls, showing off  the regimental garb hanging in his wardrobe.


Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

His masters in criminology, which saw him interview prisoners, also had a lasting impact.

“Listening to them, I sometimes surprised myself; I'd be convinced by their arguments, and would wonder about what was right or wrong – before realizing that I had gone off course.”

Baietti is back on course, and already preparing to start the next  degree, this time in food science.

Once again, he'll be poring over his books by the light of his desk  lamp as outside the world sleeps on.

“At that time the brain is more open to assimilating knowledge, and it also allows me to keep a normal family life,” he says with a grin.

By Franck Iovene

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

SHOW COMMENTS