University in mourning. Fabio Roversi Monaco has passed away

Professor Fabio Roversi Monaco, jurist and Emeritus Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Bologna, has passed away. Rector of the University of Bologna from 1985 to 2000, he led the University for fifteen years, making a decisive contribution to its international development.

The academic memorial service will be held on Monday 30 March at 12 noon in the Aula Magna of Santa Lucia.

The funeral will take place at 2:30 pm in the Cathedral of San Pietro.

A distinguished scholar with a strong legal background, Professor Roversi Monaco pursued a long academic career, teaching Constitutional Law and later Administrative Law, for which he was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor.

During his tenure as Rector, he promoted major international initiatives, including the Magna Charta Universitatum, signed by more than 400 Rectors (1988), and the Bologna Process, which culminated in the participation of 29 European Ministers of Education, who met in Bologna in 1999 to promote the comparability of higher education qualifications and the free movement of students and graduates across Europe. These meetings led to the drafting of the “Bologna Declaration”, signed by 29 European countries on 19 June 1999.

Rector Roversi Monaco also oversaw the development of the University’s Multicampus structure – unique in Italy – which enabled its balanced expansion and strengthened its presence across the region.
From 2000 to 2013, he served as President of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna; from 2013 to 2016, he was Chairman of Banca IMI, later becoming its Deputy Chairman. He was also President of the Museo della Città – Genus Bononiae, and from 2001 to 2003 he served as Chief Executive Officer of the Istituto Giovanni Treccani for the Italian Encyclopaedia.

From 1978 to 2006, he was Director of SPISA – the School of Specialisation in Public Administration Studies at the University of Bologna – where he promoted the first professional Master’s programme for corporate lawyers in Italy and the country’s first School of Specialisation in Health Law.

In 2015, he conceived the Festival of Medical Science and served on the scientific committees of numerous academic journals (he was founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sanità Pubblica e Privata).

In addition to an honorary degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Bologna, Professor Roversi Monaco was awarded honorary degrees by more than 20 universities, including Dickinson College in Carlisle, Brown University in Providence, the Complutense University of Madrid, Université Panthéon 1 – Sorbonne in Paris, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Soka University in Tokyo, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Saint Petersburg University, the University of Barcelona, the Pontifical Catholic University of Belo Horizonte, the University of Salta, the Université de Montréal, the University of Denver, Victoria University in Melbourne, the University of Trieste, Samarkand State University, and the University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti–Pescara.

He was awarded the title of Knight Grand Cross of the Italian Republic, Knight of the Légion d’Honneur by the President of the French Republic, Knight of the Civil Order of Savoy, the Order of Saint James of the Sword of the Portuguese Republic, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise by the King of Spain, and the Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary.

“With the passing of Fabio Roversi Monaco,” said Rector Giovanni Molari, “the University of Bologna has lost one of its most authoritative and representative figures. During his long tenure as Rector, he led the University with vision, determination and a deep sense of institutional responsibility, making a decisive contribution to its international development. On behalf of the entire University community, I express our deepest condolences and gratitude for the cultural and institutional legacy he leaves behind.”