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An estimated 20,000 unemployed university graduates in Italy's economically depressed south will be offered six to 12-month training courses in fields connected to new technologies and the new economy, writes Paul Bompard.

The project was announced in Palermo, Sicily, by under-secretary for universities Luciano Guerzoni. He said private companies, coordinated by the Italian Industrial Confederation, would set up the training courses. An independent body will evaluate each of the proposed training programmes before they receive financing and are included in the project.