Italy PM pick had ‘no official status’ at NYU

MILAN (AP) — A law professor put forward as Italy’s next premier faced suspicions Tuesday that he overstated his academic credentials, including referring on his resume to seven summers of studies at New York University that turned out to involve only having library privileges there.

The 12-page resume covering the years since Guiseppe Conte earned his law degree from Rome’s Sapienza University in 1988 includes entries for time spent at an array of top universities in the United States, Britain and France, without specifying the courses or areas of research he undertook.

The curriculum vitae states that Conte, 53, “stayed” at Paris Sorbonne University in 2000 and Cambridge University’s Girton College in 2001 for scientific research. The resume also states he “perfected and updated his studies” at New York University during the summers of 2008-2014.

In a statement Tuesday, New York University said records showed that Conte had “no official status” at the school, but “was granted permission to conduct research in the NYU Law library” during the same years listed on his resume.

University spokeswoman Michelle Tsai added that Conte also ‘’invited an NYU Law professor to serve on the board of an Italian law journal.”

Conte did not respond Tuesday to the speculation he padded his official resume, which was submitted to the Italian parliament in 2013.

The 5-Star Movement, one of the populist forces that proposed the University of Florence professor without political experience as premier, offered a vigorous defense.

Conte ‘’never boasted” of holding degrees from foreign universities, but “stayed abroad to study, enrich his knowledge and perfect his juridical English.