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University of Trento (Italy)
Culture and changes:
Approaches and implementation - the role of the rector
Prof. Massimo EGIDI, Rector
“Governance and Leadership: Developing new policies and skills”
Leuven, 5-6 December, 2003
The University of Trento - location and historical clues
• 1962
The Institute of
Social Science is
founded by local
politicians
• 1972
The Institute
becomes a
private University
•
TRENTO
• 1982
The University
becomes a state
University with
special autonomy
The University of Trento today - staff and students
Professors
452
Technical and Administrative staff
575
Total staff
Students
PhD Students
Graduates (2002)
1027
14.952
354
2124
The University of Trento today - structures
6
13
Faculties
Research Departments
1
Centre of excellence
2
Interdepartmental research centres
35
Research laboratories
8
Study centres
1
Linguistic centre
4
Libraries
5
University restaurants
1
Congress centre
2
Structures for students
recreational activities
3
Sport centres
700
Accomodations
The situation in the mid-nineties
Despite reasonably good performances, some critical aspects were
emerging in the Italian university system (including the University of
Trento), mainly because
the national system of resource allocation, based on central planning and
negotiation between the centre and the single universities, did not
encourage universities to develop their own modern and really
autonomous internal system of governance.
Therefore the following limits were affecting Universities’ governance:
•a still unclear internal decision-making structure
•a limited culture of strategic planning and evaluation
•scant reliable internal information management
•an administration system mainly oriented to the fulfilment of
bureaucratic procedures.
•poor institutional relations with stakeholders (the universities were still
perceived as “external body” by the local communities)
The situation in the mid-nineties: opportunities and constraints
Aims of the University (Berlinguer-Zecchino) reform
• achieving more efficiency of the education system by introducing
new and more flexible educational programs (3+2) aimed to reduce
the “mortality” rate and to bring the academic training nearer to the
the professional profiles required by the market.
• gradually introducing competition amongst Universities both
enabling them to play a more important role in the economic and
technological arena and promoting quality.
•Increasing the inter-regional student mobility by enabling the better
universities and educational programs to be recognized.
The situation in the mid-nineties: opportunities and constraints
Unexpected effects of the autonomy introduced by the reform
• The reform was introducing a new system of recruitment
largely based on the autonomous decisions of any single
University
- This system is reducing severely the academic
mobility and the quality selection mechanisms due to local
pressures.
A number of Universities responded to the increased autonomy with a
proliferation of different courses and decentralized campuses that have
produced a drop in the University quality
The situation in the mid-nineties: opportunities and constraints
Unexpected effects of the autonomy introduced by the reform
•These negative effects were mainly caused by the lack of a serious
system for the allocation of resources based on quality assessment.
•Instead, the Ministry introduced an “equilibrating model” intended to
allocate the national resources in relation to the ratio
professors/students: a too simple and therefore misleading way to
measure the efficiency of the universities’ performances.
The proposal by the Rector
In view of increase in autonomy of the Italian universities, the rise in
competition among universities, and the need to deal with negative
effect, a strategy for transformation became evident.
The Rector’s proposal intended to accept the spirit of the reform,
trying to avoid or reduce the risks involved in a very imperfect
competition system. This required
•a new strategy for research and training
•the transformation of stakeholders in partners
•the creation of consensus both outside and within University
•The development of new rules and a new culture for internal
governance
• the broadening of the financial portfolio, and the creation of a wide
and equilibrated set of external partnerships
The vision underlying the proposed transformation
To be able to respond positively to the new threats, a transformation
of the Governance system was necessary:
FROM
TO
An internal system for resource allocation pervaded by
individual interests and solved through “person by person”
relations
a new system as a space for strategic planning on the
bases of shared goals and interests (institutional
negotiation and consensus)
FROM
an administrative structure focussed on norms, procedures
and legal constraints
TO
a new administrative organization oriented to goals and
sharing the strategies of academic bodies
FROM
a self-referential University
TO
an accountable University
Fostering the internal cultural change
The proposal of the University of Trento for a new method for
resources allocation in research and training has been:
•devolution of authority (departments
decentralization of the decision making
•
•
and
faculties)
and
increased autonomy and increased responsibilities
internal competition for resources based on:
•quality evaluation as basic element for negotiations
•ability to attract external funds from highly competitive sources
Changing the culture inside the University
To support this process, actions and new instruments were needed.
The most demanding and effective were the:
• introduction of a “supportive” evaluation system
• introduction of a new, goal oriented approach in administration
• reorganization of the administrative structure with a
clear definition of functions and responsibilities
• linkage of the expansion of the administrative staff to goals
• introduction of a new analytical accounting system and a
management control system
• definition of new regulations on intellectual property and codes
of conduct (ethics) to clarify the relationships with external
partners
Change in the relations with the regional actors
At the same time, new ways were adopted to relate with the main
local actors, namely:
• the provincial political authorities (PAT) and local municipalities
• the local cultural and social institutions and local media
• the local research institutions
• the economic environment, which locally:
• is mainly tertiary
• is mainly represented by agriculture and tourism
• is almost entirely formed by SMEs
• presented no industrial or innovative district while having
great potential for such a development based on local
research institutions (e.g. high-tech district)
The design of a shared development programme
• the long-term “Action Programme Agreement” signed with local
authorities who granted funding for priority actions in:
 education: agreements on subjects and degree courses;
 research: joint development of new areas and joint access to
international funding;
 internationalisation processes of education and research,
establishment of a new university;
 campus; long-term building plan
The design of a shared development programme
• the relations with the numerous research institutions operating
in the region such as:
•Istituto Agrario S. Michele – agriculture
•ITC-IRST Information technology
The turning point was the strengthening of the local research
system, an explicit priority for the local government (>3% PIL),
through the:
• access to international research networks
• creation of new international centres of excellence in the region
• funding of inter-institutions projects
The design of a shared development programme
The response of the University to the expectations of the local
economic enviroment, in view of creating an innovative district, led
to the joint identification of new areas of development and the
empowerment of already existing ones in:
• education: agreements on subjects and degree courses
e.g. mechatronics courses, financially supported by local industries;
training initiatives and life-long learning (also by distant learning)
e.g. apprenticeship programme in ICT sector; permanent education
programmes in economics and management; teaching school;
• research: joint development of new areas and joint access to
national and international funding, through networking and the
creation of consortia e.g. Hydrogen Consortium (University & research
Institutions & local Industries)
the creation of a Foundation to favour the exploitation of the
results from University research (Intellectual Property Rights) and
to foster technology transfer and the creation of spin-offs.
The situation today
The University of Trento has, at present, instruments and experience
to cope with the European policy in education and research (the
Bologna process and the creation of EHRA and ERA).
Needless to say, its innovation process is still under way and further
objectives need to be reached:
•
the University of Trento has to complete its informal changes of
the governance rules and stabilize it through a modification of its
Statutes
•
a culture of the quality assessment in all areas of University activities
has to be consolidated
•
access to external resources must be further increased and
alliances with stakeholders must be strengthened
The future role of the Rector
• The Rector will neither be a pure manager nor pure scientist
•He will be above all an innovator that builds the difficult synthesis
between multiple internal and external forces by channelling
stakeholders interests into a general strategy for scientific excellence,
innovation in economics and training quality
•He will be a guarantee of the university’s orientation. He will
maintain the continuity of the long term strategies
“Governance and Leadership: Developing new policies and skills”
Leuven, 5-6 December, 2003