Italy to Institute a National Research Evaluation Program. (July 29, 2009)

Mariastella Gelmini, minister of universities and research

Amidst continued controversy the Italian government has finally given the go-ahead for a national research evaluation agency [machine translation] (Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca, ANVUR).

According to Mariastella Gelmini, the minister of universities and research, the law creating the agency was passed two years ago, but not put into practice until now. It is expected to become active in about a year, but because Italy has now published its first university rankings performance-related funding is to begin immediately.

While a number of the nation's scientists have welcomed the minister's announcement, her ranking of universities is causing controversy. Up to 7% of the approximately €7-billion (A$12-billion) national university budget will be allocated according to the list. Universities in the centre and north of the country tend to the top of the listing while those in the poorer south bring up the rear.

The president of Sicily says that poor infrastructure in many southern universities prevents them from attracting independent research funds and high unemployment in the South make it hard for graduates to find jobs, a criterion used to measure the effectiveness of teaching, while Alison Abbott of NatureNews writes: "All universities are concerned that performance-related funding is being introduced in a year when the government plans a 10% cut in the university budget. Davide Bassi, rector of the top-ranking University of Trento, says that this will be a 'disaster for all universities, including our own'.

     "Details of ANVUR's operation have yet to be set, but it is likely to be responsible for fine-tuning the criteria used in ranking exercises."

In a comment to Ms Abbott's article Anurag Chaurasia, ICAR, India [Indian Council of Agricultural Research], writes: "Performance based university funding is no doubt a welcome step but at the same time such funding will make good universities better and best while poor performing universities will remain poor. So there is also a need for agencies which can evaluate the reasons (like poor infrastructure, current poor funding, and lack of meritorious faculties) behind poor performance and suggest the steps to rectify them so that all universities may aspire to best performance."