MiGE hosted the international conference “STACK in Trieste 2026”, dedicated to the use of open-source digital tools to improve teaching in STEM courses and support scientific cooperation with African universities.

The initiative is part of a pathway launched in 2022, when the University of Trieste became the first university in Italy to install STACK, a software for teaching and automatic assessment in scientific disciplines. Since then, UniTS has developed its own question bank for foundation courses, which is now used by around 1,000 students every year.

STACK — System for Teaching and Assessment using a Computer algebra Kernel — allows students to practise independently through interactive exercises that are parametrically generated and automatically assessed. The system provides targeted feedback and guided solutions, enabling lecturers to introduce forms of continuous assessment even in large classes.

This aspect is particularly relevant in foundation STEM courses and in rapidly growing university contexts. In some African universities, for example, the increase in the student population has led to very large classes, with student-to-lecturer ratios that are difficult to manage using traditional tools.

“Demographic growth in Africa, together with other factors, has led to extremely large university STEM classes, in some cases with more than 1,000 students per lecturer. University resources have not grown proportionally, despite the fact that STEM education is increasingly central to the world of work and to development. At the same time, in the Italian context, continuous assessment in STEM is almost absent, as it requires considerable resources from lecturers. The open-source software STACK helps address both of these challenges, simultaneously and through a joint effort,” said Professor Lewanski of MiGE.

The conference brought together 46 participants from 12 countries. Delegations from Kenya, Rwanda and Somalia took part in the event, with 12 African lecturers representing Masinde Muliro University for Science and Technology, Maseno University, INES Ruhengeri and Somali National University.

The opening session featured contributions from Roberta Altin, Rector’s Delegate for Cooperation and Development; Silvia Pallaver, representing the UniTS Teaching and Learning Center and the DEH Alma project; and Federica Gori, from the International Project Design and Recruitment Office. Guests also included Marcelo Knobel, Director of UNESCO – The World Academy of Science; Christopher Sangwin, Professor at the University of Edinburgh and creator of STACK; and David Stern, Director of IDEMS International.

The development of STACK at UniTS, research into its impact on teaching, and support for the African STACK Community have been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Erasmus+ KA171 projects, PNRR doctoral scholarships for public administration, UniTS development cooperation projects, and the DEH Alma project.