MILAN — Most students look forward in life; too many teachers look back. A tad depressing as sentiments go, perhaps, but it sums up Italian universities.

Take Milan Polytechnic. With around 40,000 students, the Politecnico di Milano is the largest and most prestigious technical university in Italy, offering undergraduate, graduate and other advanced courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 1863, just two years after Italy was united, Milan Polytechnic ranks well internationally; many of its graduates now grace the faculties of schools like M.I.T., Caltech and Oxbridge. Among the Politecnico’s distinguished alumni are the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Giulio Natta and the architects Aldo Rossi and Renzo Piano, the latter of whom designed the New York Times building in Manhattan.

Yet the Politecnico has a problem. As you know, here in Italy we speak Italian. Beautiful though our language may be, it is not the medium of choice for engineers when they’re building a beltway in Norway or designing a dam in Vietnam. For better or worse, the global tongue of engineers is English. Hoping to attract more international students, the Politecnico decided in 2011 to run its master’s courses and doctorates in English only.

And then all academic hell broke loose.

Over 100 faculty members went to court to block the plan, citing a 1933 royal decree that makes Italian the official language of academia. Who cares if the decree was issued under fascism and driven by Benito Mussolini’s obsession with banning words like “cocktail” and “sandwich”? So what if Italian Politecnico students speak good English already, and use only English-language textbooks? So what if their future job applications, interviews and business meetings will all be in English?