L'università italiana tra conservazione e mutamento

In the last decade, Italian University, has been witnessing a wide and deep structural change. Starting from 1999 the curricular reform has been implemented aiming at harmonizing university education to the so-called Bologna Process. This process, in turn, aims at realizing the European Higher Education Area where higher education degrees are recognized by all the subscribing countries. At the same time, this institutional construction creates a new competitive environment for Universities. The curricular reform has constituted the underpinning of further changes in other organizational and structural arrangements of University sector and institutions, albeit in many cases the expected outcomes and achievements have been fallen short, if not remained untouched.
This work aims at offering an analytical description of the recent Italian higher education reform process. It is structured in four main sections:
- A brief description of the former governance and organizational structure of the Italian higher education system, as well as of the main attempts to change it during the last decades;
- A description of the reform main features (goals, contents, structure) and of the changes it is expected to produce on governance structure, didactic and curricular organization, academic culture and university productivity.
- An analysis of key issues characterizing the Italian university, particularly the issue of financing, research and governance.
- A comparison between the Italian Universities and other European higher education systems, showing the main differences and results.
The thesis concludes with an indication of possible strategies and proposals to correct deficiencies at the Italian University and to promote academic success in our country.