The new challenges for Italian Universities after the reform of University Governance

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1 Bergamo, 15 October 2012 Michele MEOLI University of Bergamo Research group on Higher Education: Stefano Paleari, Remo Morzenti Pellegrini,, Davide Donina, Saul Monzani

2 Research Projects Research projects: Universities in the new century: territorial presidium and social institution (with Fondazione Cariplo) Higher Education changes. Regional system and consolidation of University reform (with CRUI and Éupolis Lombardia) Permanent research group on Higher Education at the University of Bergamo. What challenges are the Italian Universities facing nowadays? and what are the strategies (and the instruments) to deal with these challenges? 2

3 The reform of the University governance: the context Motivation: inefficient governance E.g.: Overlapping of responsibility between collegial bodies, etc. Opportunities Adapt to international best practices: more autonomy and market-orientation Policy makers presented the new legislative framework as an approach to the market models A new vision of the HE system? Rather a reaction to solve previous inefficiencies Rather a limitation of university autonomy (notwithstanding Article 1 of the Law 240/2010) 3

4 The Italian HE Governance Reform: Law 240/2010 Law 240/2010 (Gelmini Reform): Guidelines for: Organisational uniformity Compositional and dimensional requirements for institutional bodies Standard governance for Italian State university Forced concurrent revision of all Italian university statutes Main features: Rector has fundamental decision-making role Neat distinction between the tasks of the Academic Senate and Board of Directors Creation of a single internal structure (departments), replacing the roles of faculties and old departments 4

5 The limitations of the reform Government significantly curbed autonomy: Rector terms of office fixed by law Size of collegial bodies limited by law Internal organisational uniformity is imposed The reform marginally affected some key features Status of the faculty members Are universities empowered of the instruments they need to make the strategic choices required by nowadays society? 5

6 Today s challenges: funding of European HE Many countries reduced public funding to their tertiary education systems from the beginning of the crisis Reduction of funding mainly in the countries in the south and east of Europe Trends in Public Funding to Higher Education Europe over the period Source EUA s Public Funding Observatory (June 2012) 6

7 Today s challenges: funding of Italian HE ,6% ,7% 85,4% ,9% ,7% 34,5% 200 Netherlands France Germany Spain Italy United Kingdom Public expenditure and share of public expenditure on tertiary education per citizen (USD PPP) Source: Reprocessing data from OECD Education at a Glance 2011 FFO (state ordinary funding) is the main source of funding to HE in Italy: Year FFO (mln ) previous year cumulated , ,4-0,2% -0,2% ,8-3,8% -4,0% ,2-2,4% -6,2% ,0-0,0% -6,3% 2013 Exp ,0-4,6% -10,6% Source: Ministerial Decree of FFO allocation 7

8 Today s challenges: To do more with less? To do more with less (?) Sharp decline of academic staff Dramatic decline of non-academic staff State universities 2011/ / / /09 % Bachelor & Master students n.a ,9% Academic staff ,6% Non-academic staff ,1% Source: Reprocessing MIUR data Academic Year 2008/09: Data on students of Venezia Ca Foscari were not available from MIUR. Students were estimated to be about

9 Stereotype 1: number of universities In Italy there are too many universities University 56 Pol ytechni c 3 Univerisity for foreign 3 Scuole superiori universitarie e Istituti di alta formazione dottorale State Universities Non-State Universities Non-State Universities financed by local government University 3 Univerisity for foreign 1 Private universities University 14 Telematic 11 6 Scientific Universities Universities of Applied Sciences German universities Universities 103 Colleges of Education 6 Colleges of Theology 17 Colleges of Arts and Music 52 Fachhochschulen 164 Colleges of Public Administration 31 Total Tertiary education institutions in Germany Source: Warning, S. (2007). The economic Analysis of Universities. Strategic Groups and Positioning. Edward Elgar Publishing 373 Totale 97 Tertiary education institutions in Italy 9

10 Stereotype 2: the size of universities Several Italian universities are too small The flight to medium-size State Universities Bachelor & Master students 2010/ / / / % Total ,9% Mega Universities ,8% Big universities ,9% Medium universities ,0% Small universities ,8% Source: Reprocessing MIUR data Academic Year 2008/09: Data on students of Venezia Ca Foscari were not available from MIUR. Students were estimated to be about

11 Stereotype 3: the number of graduates In Italy there are too many graduates Only 15% of Italian population has a degree Even among younger Italians the share of graduates is very low year-olds year-olds Korea Canada Japan Russian Federation Ireland Norway New Zealand Luxembourg United Kingdom Australia Denmark France Israel Belgium Sweden United States Netherlands Switzerland Finland Spain OECD average Estonia G20 average Iceland Poland Chile Slovenia Greece Germany Hungary Portugal Austria Slovak Republic Czech Republic Mexico Italy Turkey Brazil Population share that attained tertiary education by age (2009) Source: OECD, Education at a glance,

12 International Rankings Top 10 universities in Times Higher Education Ranking 2012 Rank Università Students Faculty Student / Faculty 1 California Institute of Technology University of Oxford Stanford University Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Princeton University University of Cambridge Imperial College London University of California, Berkeley University of Chicago Top 10 universities in Times Higher Education Ranking 2012 Average students number "top 10" Average students per faculty "top 10" 7 Avarage students per faculty in Italy 30 12

13 The target of sustainability: funding sources FFO (state) Students OH EU Fund Raising OH contracts Unconstrained financial resources 13

14 The target of sustainability: funding models New funding models for the sustainability of the system Funding sources FFO (state) Classical state university 80% 20% Students OH EU OH contracts Fund raising Private (teaching) model 20% 50% 30% Hybrid model 50% 20% 30% The percentages above refer to theoretical solutions A variety of funding/business models could facilitate the creation of a university eco-system Evolution of HE institutes to be more respondent to different stakeholder needs A possible response to the massification of HE 14

15 Perspectives Italian universities may have the skills to compete, but at this point they do not have the instruments to do so They can accept the challenge of less resources, if empowered to leverage on their competitive strengths Moving back from the State in funding have to correspond with: More autonomy Less constraints 15

16 Future research agenda The future of European Universities: The business models The competitive framework Rankings vs. other measures of university output Our objectives: Create a network of interested partners (researchers and institutions) interested on the topics; Regular workshops for a comparative approach (every year/two years) Promoting a research project at the European level 16