Reform of Italy’s universities has for months been at the center of the national public debate, coinciding with the development of plans for a government review of the area. In addition to issues relating to the governance of universities and the soundness of the system’s macro-financial structure, the participants at this Conference examined ways of making the Italian university model more efficient and merit-based, focusing predominantly on the mechanisms regulating the autonomy of individual universities and the relationship between the latter and their local business communities. Indeed, a direct link was drawn between the internal governance of universities and the overall competitiveness of the country. In a knowledge-based society, this relationship is becoming increasingly more crucial, especially in the midst of the current economic crisis, where what primarily matters if the country is to survive is a capacity for innovation, effectiveness in fostering partnerships between the research sector and the business world, and the ability to support the internationalization of human capital – particularly by attracting talent and professional expertise from abroad.
Whatever legitimate responsibility and merit-based approach is adopted for managing universities, the biggest stumbling block will be the excessive fragmentation of the Italian university system, in which autonomy has mainly led to a glut of separate campuses and an exponential growth in degree and specialization courses. The participants felt that this fragmentation complicates the process of selectively identifying options for making Italy’s universities more competitive, particularly as regards the honing of mechanisms designed to systematically evaluate performance, and the formulation of incentives aimed at facilitating the career advancement of the best achievers. Yet it is “selectiveness” that would seem to hold the key to breaking the deadlock that has gripped a system which no longer functions as it should. This entails selectiveness in choosing approaches to teaching and research, keeping in mind the distinct (even social) purposes that characterize these two constituent arms of the university sphere. Within the context of the provision of educational services, it involves being selective in choosing the scientific disciplines and departments offered by each university, with the aim of channeling research activities towards sectors that are deemed to be of strategic importance in terms of economic competitiveness. Finally, selectiveness is also needed in the area of human resources management, with career paths being made to reflect demonstrated ability at all stages of the professional development process within universities.
Framed in these terms, the matter clearly raises the sensitive issue of the relationship between the role that universities must play in promoting the right to education and the need to focus the mission of individual educational institutions, from primary schools to those offering doctoral courses. Underpinning these issues is not only the legislatively guaranteed autonomy of universities, but also government funding measures aimed at steering these choices in a direction that contributes to the growth and innovation of the country. However, whether such measures will have the desired effect remains a matter for debate. The allocation of resources – which, in theory, is the most effective mechanism at the disposal of economic policymakers – could act as a key tool in fostering selectiveness, provided that it is targeted and does not take the form of indiscriminate funding, which would only serve to perpetuate the further dispersal of human and material resources.
What is clear is that the issue of resources and their allocation is decisive, in view of the current state of public finances, which greatly limits what can be achieved through public funding, in terms of the sustainability of the Italian university system, with medium to long-term forecasts requiring a rationalization of expenditure that is currently almost entirely spread across personnel and day-to-day running costs, and finally, as a means of facilitating social mobility through the provision of unsecured student loans, scholarships, research grants and other similar forms of support for those who excel.
It was observed that the issue of funding is even more crucial in terms of the relationship between universities and the business sector, linked as it is to the associated fundamental issue of the relationship between public investment and the role of the private sector. In a manufacturing-oriented country like Italy, whose production structure hinges on millions of SMEs, widespread (product and process) innovation can only be achieved through skills transfer and greater integration between pure and applied research. Italian universities are still competitive in the field of pure research, as reflected in international rankings of publications and scientific citations. However, it is much less so in the field of applied research. For instance, Italy is way behind its major European competitors as regards the number of patents granted. The significant increase in recent years in the number of Italian patents is due to the performance of just five cutting-edge universities out of over 70. All this confirms not only the need for a rationalization of the functions of universities, but also the necessity, whilst maintaining the principle of autonomy, of more effectively formulating and planning the mission of universities (in terms of both the disciplines and geographical territory they cover) as enshrined in their establishing statutes.
By way of conclusion, the participants highlighted that “planning” is the second keyword for effective university reform. It applies to the internal governance of universities as well as to their relationship with the business community. Recent successfully-trialed experiences – including the establishment of business incubators, spin-off enterprises that are now in full swing, integrated public-private research laboratories, and a significant increase in the number of researchers and academic staff attracted from abroad – have confirmed that it is possible to achieve ambitious results by focusing on selectiveness and merit with a view to improving the efficiency of the system and, perhaps more importantly, serving the national interest.