03 - Italy - Specific legislative framework
The general principles that regulate higher education are established by the Constitution of the Italian
Republic. It establishes that 'art and science are free and the teaching of them is free'; in defence of
academic liberty, the Constitution also declares that 'the institutions of high level culture, universities
and academies, have the right to organise themselves autonomously as they see fit, within the limits
established by the law of the country'. Furthermore, the right to higher education is
defined by the Constitution as follows: able and deserving students, even though lacking in means,
have the right to achieve the highest educational levels. The Italian Republic fulfils this right through
scholarships, family allowances and other benefits, assigned through competitions.
Non-university tertiary education
Regulations on the Afam reform are the following:
Law of 21 December 1999, no. 508: it sets up the new sector of art and music higher education;
Decree of the President of the Republic of 28 February 2003, no. 132: it establishes the statutory
as well as regulations and organisation autonomy of art and music institutions;
Decree of the President of the Republic of 8 July 2005, no. 212: it defines the new academic
titles and teaching regulations; Afam institutions can set up study courses structured in three
cycles; the first one foresees three-year courses; the second one two-year courses; the third one
is dedicated to research training;
University tertiary education
The main stages of the reform process of the university system were:
Law no. 168 of 9 May 1989: it instituted the Ministry of University and Scientific and
Technological Research (MURST) to enlarge organisational, didactic and financial autonomy of
Universities;
Law no. 341 of 19 November 1990: it reformed the university teaching structure (it introduced,
among the university titles, the Diploma universitario);
Law no. 390 of 2 December 1991: it systematically regulated the delicate subject of the right to
university studies; rules related to the planning of the university system, which foresee the
decongestion of overcrowded universities to increase teaching quality and, consequently,
improve teaching offered to students;
Law no. 127 of 15 May 1997: it ascribes to the Ministry the power to regulate the new
organisation of titles and of the related university teaching structure through one or more
decrees; these decrees are issued upon advice of technical bodies representing the university
sector (like CUN, CRUI and CNSU, see 2.6.1.2.), and political bodies (like the competent
parliamentary committees);
Regulation of 3 November 1999, no. 509 on university autonomy, for the implementation of Law
127/1997: it establishes provisions concerning general criteria of the university study system; it
determines the types of qualification issued by the university; it ascribes to the universities the
responsibility to issue the didactical organisation of its study courses, in order to implement the
full educational autonomy in the respect of the procedures foreseen by law and by the
universities statutes. The above mentioned regulations implement article 33 of the Italian
Constitution for what concerns the right of the universities to determine their autonomous
teaching structures within the limits established by the State laws.
The most relevant regulations issued after 2001 are the following:
Decree of 5 August 2004: it provides for the university system planning for the three-year period
2004/06 and the financing of the following new interventions: database of educational offer,
national register of students, decongestion of overcrowded universities, institution of new on-line
universities, creation of industrial liason office, scientific lauree project, doctorate schools, higher
schools and high level education, internationalisation;
Regulation of 22 October 2004, no. 270; it amends some rules of the 1999 reform and
introduces what follows: new characterisation of the three-year laurea course; new name laurea
magistrale of the foregoing laurea specialistica; classes revision; more autonomy and flexibility of
universities in defining the curricular contents;
Law of 4 November 2005, no. 23; it reorganises university teaching as follows: teaching
qualification established through national competitions; introduction of the new professional
figure of the associated professor ('professore aggregato'); more opportunities for external
contract teachers; introduction of new, non renewable fixed-term contracts.
Legislative decree of 17 October 2005, no. 227: it establishes new regulations for the training of
primary and secondary school teachers,
Legislative decree of 6 April 2006, no. 164, on the recruitment of university teachers;
Law of 27 December 2006, no. 296, on the constitution of one only national agency for the
evaluation of the university system and research, ANVUR; this new agency replaces two
committees; the CNVSU for the university system and the CIVR for research; the new agency
will carry out tasks related to external evaluation of the quality of the activities of the universities
and public or private research institutes which are financed through public funds; it will also carry
out guidance, coordination and supervision activities of internal evaluation of universities and
research institutes, of evaluation of the efficiency and efficacy of the financing and promotion
state programmes for research and innovation activities;
Decree of 16 March 2007, establishing the new classes of the laurea (L) aand of the laurea
magistrale;
Ministerial Decree no. 544 of 31 October 2007, defining the essential requirements of courses of
laurea (L) and laurea magistrale ;
Law no. 165 of 27 September 2007, which delegates to the Government the legislative power on
the reorganization of the research institutions.
In addition, as for the university and research sectors, the recruitment of young researchers has been
provided and, at the same time, new financial resources have been allocated, in particular through the
Fund for scientific and technological research. Through the financial law for the year 2008, 400 million
euros have been added for the university and research sectors, distributed by merit.
In 2008, in order to improve the quality of teaching and research and to reward, also financially, those
universities that achieve high-quality results, the National Agency for the evaluation of the university
and research system has been established, with the aim of making the evaluation procedures stricter. For the same
reasons, the Government has also stopped the proliferating of small universities with poor financial
resources and structures and that, therefore, are not able to guarantee an adequate level of education.
Postgraduate level
The research Doctorate is regulated according to the following provisions:
section 4 of law no. 210 of 3 July 1998, for the definition of the fundamental objectives and
general criteria, from courses setting up and organisation, to candidates' selection and
scholarship assignments;
Ministerial decree no. 224 of 30 April 1999, for the suitability of university seats to set up
Doctorate courses, according to Ministerial decree no. 117 of 23 March 2000 for the
implementation of law 210/1998;
Regulations no. 509 of 3 November 1999, which establishes that the laurea specialistica is the
qualification required to be admitted to the Doctorate courses (6.6.3.); furthermore, it defines the
procedures for the acknowledgement of foreign qualifications for the admission to research
Doctorate courses;
Provisions on Doctorates included in the already mentioned sections of Regulation 509/1999
have been confirmed through Ministerial Decree no. 270 of 22 October 2004 which confers to
the single universities the responsibility for starting up Doctorate courses.
C ourses leading to a second level Diploma di specializzazione are regulated by Ministerial
decrees 509/1999 and 270/2004; courses can be started up exclusively according to specific national
regulations or European Union directives; however, specialized university education is offered by
laurea specialistica courses Master universitario courses (first and second level).
Institutions:
National Committee for the Evaluation of the University System
Conference of the Rectors of Italian Universities (CRUI)
National Council of University Students (CNSU)
National Universtiy Council (CUN)
Ministry of University and Research
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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