Ducati bikes forge links with Italian universities

Ducati, the legendary Italian manufacturer of high-performance motorcycles, is becoming increasingly involved with higher education.

The Ducati Museum has been organising lectures for the engineering and economics departments of universities in Italy and abroad, including the UK, while a group of post-graduate students from Milan's Bocconi Business School has used the Ducati company for a marketing study relative to motorcycles.

"We have already held lectures at the universities of Bologna, Pisa, Perugia and the Milan Polytechnic," said Marco Montemaggi, director of the Ducati Museum. "And we are scheduled to go to Fontainebleau in France, Linkoping in Sweden, Madrid, Northumbria, Florence, Udine and Modena." Lectures are tailored to the type of students.

"If we have engineering students we concentrate on the technology of Ducati motorcycles. If they are economists, the accent is on the administrative and marketing aspects." Ducati engineering has unique and very sophisticated engine designs that have earned it a worldwide reputation.

Since the early '50s Ducati has passed back and forth from private to state control before being taken over recently by an American consortium led by a millionaire motorcycle enthusiast. Soon after it was acquired by its new owners, Ducati was the object of a study led by John Kelly, an American postgraduate student at Bocconi.

"The new Ducati was perfect to study the re-tooling of the workforce, dealership expansion, customer service training and dealership efficiency monitoring," explained Kelly.

Universities interested in being visited by Ducati's travelling museum should call Marco Montemaggi on 0039-051-6413312 or by e-mail at marco.montemaggi@ducati.com