Evaluation at University State Level in Italy: Need for a System of Evaluation and Indicators

This paper has two main objectives. First, it presents the new relationships between the State (the Ministry of the University) and each university in Italy, and the evaluation system established in 1996 and revised by a recent law passed in October 1999. Second, it focuses on the characteristics of the evaluation system which has to be implemented, in order to verify the universities programmes, as well as their results in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and quality. Particular attention is devoted to the system of indicators to be used for the evaluation and for the allocation of specific funds in terms of incentives, and to their possible effects on the decisions of the universities’ management. Appropriate statistical methods to analyse the considered system of indicators are finally highlighted.