Frequently Asked Questions
Question: University 3.0 – How will students’ lives be made easier?
Reply: the latest figures published by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research regarding the number of university students revealed a complex situation.
Italy has more than 1,700,000 university students, taking three-year degree and specialist degree courses. However, many of the students are finding it difficult to complete their studies within the normal deadlines. The average number of students who have failed to keep up with their cause deadlines in the largest universities (the Milan Polytechnic, Pisa University, and “La Sapienza” University in Rome) is often equal to or above one-half of all the enrolled students. There are obviously many reasons for this. The difficulty of finding information, and bureaucratic delays are largely responsible. The "Simplify Italy" decree is an attempt to solve the problem by hastening the process of transforming the universities. The new one-stop shop, in both Italian and in English, gathers together and makes accessible information on every Italian university. This not only benefits the universities, enabling them to streamline their procedures and shorten the time to complete them, but it also offers considerable benefits to students.
Through this one-stop shop it will be possible:
- To find information on all the degree courses provided by every university.
Today, in order to to find information on the degree courses, students must consult the individual Faculty websites or go there themselves. This new portal gathers together all the information, making it easy to consult.
- To obtain examination records. Through the one-stop shop all the bureaucratic procedures for obtaining reports on the examinations taken have been abolished. A few clicks are sufficient to update the students’ electronic academic record directly from their own computer.
With regard to academic planning and the right to study, in March 2012 the government adopted two Legislative Decrees, now awaiting agreements with the parties concerned, to implement Law No. 240 of 30 December, 2010 (known as the University Reform law).
The first measure revised the law regarding the right to study and valorising legally recognised university institutes. In particular, it provides the following:
- Scope of the measure: the State universities, legally recognised private universities, higher education institutes for the arts, music and singing:
- Beneficiaries of the right to study, namely, the students registered with all the higher education courses in the Region or Autonomous Province. Equality of treatment is now guaranteed to all Italian citizens, regardless of their home Region or Autonomous Province, and to foreign students, stateless students and political refugees, using the instruments and services provided to enable them to enjoy the right to study, under current legislation;
- Instruments and services for successful education: accommodation services, catering services, counselling services and tutoring., Part-time activities, transport, health care, access to culture, international mobility services, educational materials and other services established by the Regions, the Autonomous Provinces of Trent and Bolzano, universities, and artistic and musical higher education institutions. These instruments and services are guaranteed by providing bursaries to good and meritorious students, even if they do not have resources of their own, provided that they possess the eligibility requirements according to article 8, namely, requirements based on merit and their family situation.
- The institutional parties involved in guaranteeing the services and the system of financing the right to study.
The measure identifies two main points. First and foremost, the ‘LEP’ concept (the Italian acronym for ‘essential service level’) which must be guaranteed to all students in possession of the financial requisites and the merit requirements required for the bursary. Secondly, the colleges and university residences have been valorised by being considered "instruments" for improving the quality of each student's university pathway. The term "college" means structures, with multifunctional areas, providing accommodation facilities with annexed catering, educational, cultural and recreational facilities. “University residences”, on the other hand, are residential accommodation facilities with multifunctional areas, able to provide hospitality services structured to meet the collective and individual needs of students.
What does LEP mean?
Essential levels of service relating to civil and social rights – which in Italian go by the acronym LEP – must be guaranteed to everyone in the national territory according to article 117 (2) (m) of the Italian Constitution. The central government has sole responsibility for laying down these essential levels of service, but not alone, for the local authorities – namely the Regions, Provinces and Municipalities – also take part in providing them. The LEP form part of the wide-ranging reform enacted under Constitutional Law No. 3 of 18 October, 2001, amending Title V of the Constitution: the centralised concept of government was abolished by this law, while the local authorities' powers were enhanced according to the subsidiarity principle transposed into Italian law from European law.
Article 120 (2) of the Reform vests the central government with deputising or subsidiary powers to act in the stead of the local authorities in the event that they fail to provide essential levels of service: “the government may deputise for organs of the Regions, Metropolitan Cities, Provinces and Municipalities in the event that they fail to comply with international legal provisions and treaties or Community law, or pose a serious threat to public security and safety, or when this is required to protect the legal unity or the economic unity of the country, and in particular to protect essential service levels in the matter of civil and social rights, without regard to the territorial borders of the local governments".
The LEP refer in particular to three fields:
- Rights relating to education and training;
- Rights relating to health care;
- Rights relating to social care and welfare.
The second measure governs the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the universities' budgetary and recruitment policies. The following measures are addressed organically:
- Universities’ economic and financial planning;
- Criteria for guaranteeing the sustainability of staff costs and debt;
- Introduction of the standard cost per student with regular attendance: this cost is laid down in a decree issued by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research jointly with the Minister for the Economy and Finance, after consulting ANVUR (Agency for the Evaluation of the Higher Education and Research System) and bearing in mind the type of course, the size of the University and the economic, territorial and infrastructural environments in which the University operates.
The Minister of education, Universities and Research issues a decree, which must cover at least three years, identifying the percentage of ’Ordinary Operational Funding’ (Italian acronym FFO) to be distributed according to criteria based on the standard cost per student, the assessment of the results of the teaching and research, the results of personnel recruitment policies, and equalisation criteria. Every year the Minister must submit a report to the Minister of the Economy and Finance on the results of this planning and programming activity, and in particular for the purposes of monitoring public finances.
- The introduction of criteria for evaluating staff recruitment policies on the basis of the procedures for evaluation laid down by ANVUR, the Agency will establish the procedures for issuing reports on the universities’ recruitment policies which will influence the "merit-based" funding of their various branches and annexes.
What is ANVUR?
The National Agency for the Evaluation of the Higher Education and Research System is a public agency under the oversight of the Minister for Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) with the following tasks:
- To perform an external evaluation and a quality assessment of the work of the universities and public and private research establishments, in receipt of public financing, on the basis of an annual programme approved by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research;
- To issue guidelines, and perform coordination and oversight for the evaluation activities required by the internal evaluation units of the universities and research establishments;
- To evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of public funding and research and innovation incentive programmes.
ANVUR was instituted by Decree Law No. 262 of 3 October, 2006 (containing urgent measures on taxation and finances) enacted with amendments by Law No. 286 of 24 November, 2006.
Latest update: 28/03/2012
