Lecturers win blocked promotion case in Italy

Three British lecturers have been awarded damages after claiming their promotion was illegally blocked by an Italian university because of their nationality, it has emerged.

The judgment by Italy's supreme court for administrative matters, the Consiglio di Stato, follows a 15-year legal battle by David Petrie, Robert Hill and David Newbold.

In 1995, they applied for a temporary promoted post teaching English at the University of Verona in the faculty where they were already employed.

They said they were excluded from applying because they did not have the requisite Italian qualifications.

Mr Petrie, a graduate of Dundee University, and Oxford University graduates Mr Hill and Mr Newbold, were each awarded €6,000 (5,252) in damages and €5,000 legal costs, according to the court judgment dated 24 September.

The Venice Regional Tribunal previously rejected their claim for damages even after a Venice Administrative Tribunal ruled the university had violated the EU treaty which bans discrimination based on nationality.

Mr Petrie, who still works as an English language lecturer at the University of Verona, chairs the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy which campaigns for equality for staff from other countries.

He said: "Delighted as I am with this judgment - it is always welcome to see a principle established - it nevertheless raises a few questions.

"How come it takes 15 years to get any compensation? And can the damage be undone?"

The men applied for a part-time temporary post giving the title of professor and points on the road to full tenure, he said.

Mr Petrie said he and his fellow lecturers would meet Europe Minister David Lidington on 28 October to ask him to take up the "plight" of British lecturers with the Italian government and help end the "illegal discrimination".