This idea has been floated by the editor of regional publication Corriere del Veneto, Alessandro Russello, in a book Cortina 2021, Queen of Sport.

The book is a special publication released in time for the 2021 International Ski Federation Alpine Ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo. 

The World Championships are currently scheduled for February 8 to 21, on slopes due to host some of the Alpine skiing contests at the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

One of those to back the proposal of a mountain university is Jan van der Borg, professor of economics and tourism management at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice.

"Combining education, tourism and environmental culture is a winner: it is an important idea, in which I strongly believe," Van der Borg said.

"In the past we tried, first in Brunico in Alto Adige then in Belluno, to take a course on tourism, but perhaps we were visionaries or perhaps at that moment the territory was not yet ready [for a mountain university]."

Steps are already in place to develop the region's higher-education offerings, with the Luiss Business School, in collaboration with Confindustria Belluno Dolomites and regional governmental bodies, creating the Veneto Hub of the Dolomites - an educational research facility offering winter and summer courses.

It was inaugurated in 2020, but is crucially not a university.

"The idea of a university of training centre is good, its feasibility needs to be carefully studied also in the light of other projects in the region," said regional councillor for tourism Federico Caner, as reported by Corriere del Veneto.

The closest university to Cortina d'Ampezzo is part of the University of Padua in San Vito di Cadore, eight miles away - the Centre of Studies for the Alpine Environment.

Major universities sit in Bolzano and Udine, more than two hours away, as well as an institution in Belluno, nearly a 90-minute drive from Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Cortina Mayor Gianpietro Ghedina further expressed support for diversification of the town, stressing that the COVID-19 pandemic had changed the way businesses worked and could lead to population growth.

"Seasonal adjustment of tourism is the lighthouse of our administration," said Ghedina.

"A technological upgrade with 80 kilometres of fibre [broadband] produced the effect that several people, especially corporate executives who no longer have to be in the office every day, have moved here.

"In this sense, I find the idea of setting up a cultural centre a further stimulus to give new breath to Cortina, which can experience all four seasons of the year, not only in winter and summer."

Those in favour of establishing a university would hope it could be done in time to take advantage of the Winter Olympics, which are scheduled to take place from February 6 to 22 in 2026.