Monica Barni

Monica Barni (born 5 April 1961) is an Italian linguist and academic specializing in language teaching, sociolinguistics, language assessment, and linguistic rights. She is full professor of modern language teaching at the Università per Stranieri di Siena, where she served as rector from 2013 to 2015. She also served as vice president of Tuscany in the second regional government led by Enrico Rossi.

Early life and education Barni was born in Siena to Mauro Barni, an academic who served as rector of the University of Siena, mayor of Siena, and founding rector of the Università per Stranieri di Siena.

She graduated in humanities in 1984 from the University of Siena. She initially worked in secondary education. In 1992, the year of its establishment, she joined the CILS (Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera) at the Università per Stranieri di Siena, a centre responsible for the certification of Italian as a foreign language.

Academic career In 2002, Barni became a researcher in philosophy and theory of language. In 2006 she was appointed associate professor in modern language teaching, becoming full professor in 2010. She served as rector of the Università per Stranieri di Siena from 1 November 2013 to 10 August 2015.

During the same period, she also served as member of the National Council for Development Cooperation (CNCS), coordinator for university within the 9th Commission (education, labour, innovation and research) of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces.