2,000 police are patrolling the streets of Rome to deal with expected protests Students are gathering in Rome for demonstrations ahead of a Senate vote on controversial education reforms.
Police have sealed off the area around parliament after last week’s violent protests when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi survived a no-confidence motion.
The education minister says reforms will save billions of euros and create a more merit-based system.
Critics say universities are already severely under-funded.
Thousands of students have gathered in Rome and several marches are expected, although the routes are being kept secret.
The reforms will cut the number of university courses, reduce funding for grants, increase the role of the private sector and limit the duration of rectorships.
The BBC’s David Willey in Rome says there is excessive power in the hands of ageing professors and teachers.
But while many agree that reforms of the education sector might be needed, there has been criticism of the swingeing cuts, thought to total around 9bn euros (£8bn, $12bn).
Italy spends less than 5% of its Gross Domestic Product on education – lower than many developed countries.
But the cuts are part of wider austerity measures that the government is introducing in order to reduce its public debt.
Students have held a number of demonstrations in recent months over the cuts which some estimate will lead to the loss of about 130,000 jobs in the education sector.
“We are asking for this bill to be blocked and for the whole public education system to be refinanced,” the Student Network said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said she was open to talks on the reforms.
But she has insisted the measures were urgently needed to equip Italian students for employment.
“It is essential to restore dignity and usability to Italian university degrees,” she said in an open letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
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