Sul governo delle università nell'Italia contemporanea

The issue of governance in higher education has been the subject of a number of studies related to history and to organization and administration in particular, touching on a wide range of questions, from various government policies on universities to certain aspects of organization within the universities themselves. Aspects related to the general governance of the Italian university system are kept in the background in this paper, which concentrates on the institutional evolution of the governing bodies and main structures within Italian universities fromthe Unification of Italy until today, thus providing a short historical overview of the powers of Italian academia, (chancellor, academic council, faculty boards and the heads thereof; and subsequently academic senate and board of administration), their functions, procedures for appointing chancellors and heads of faculty and the composition of other collegiate bodies. There were various changes, particularly the slow growth in the role of lecturers in liberal Italy and a return to centralized control by theMinistry of Education during the Fascist Era. The first and third paragraphs look at the current state of affairs, at the situation in relation to studies of these issues and at the prospects for university policy introduced in the current education reform bill which is being passed in parliament.