Key-competences in higher education as a tool for democracy

As the focus of teaching progressively moves from being transmissive to student-centred, under the beneficial pressure of the European recommendations, the debate on how to form and measure competences in students has become topical. This transformation was made necessary to nudge education institutions towards accountability, and to allow students (and their families) to make informed school choices. Large-scale achievement or cognitive tests were then developed by international organizations and administered in schools. The focus of the present paper is to provide empirical evidence that this process can be successfully embraced also by the higher education system. To this end we report data from several surveys in which ANVUR, the Italian public agency for the evaluation of universities and research institutes, administered the Test of Competence (TECO) to evaluate generic and disciplinary competences in first- and third-year undergraduate students. Using the value-added approach, we demonstrate that both types of competences can be formed by higher education institutions and that the university attendance makes a difference, especially for the disciplinary ones. The study qualifies TECO as a reliable tool for self-assessment of teaching effectiveness, to be used for evidence-based policies in higher education

La valutazione dei prodotti della ricerca ed il suo impatto sul sistema universitario e degli enti di ricerca: il caso italiano

La prima valutazione dell’attività di ricerca italiana è stata fatta dal Comitato d’Indirizzo per la Valutazione della Ricerca (CIVR), un organismo di nomina governativa, che avviò per il sistema delle università e degli enti di ricerca, un processo finalizzato alla qualificazione dell’attività di ricerca del nostro Paese. In quell’esercizio furono analizzati poco più di 17.000 prodotti, scelti dalle varie strutture, per il triennio 2001-2003 ed i risultati furono pubblicati nel gennaio del 2..

Evaluating scientific research in Italy: The 2004-10 research evaluation exercise

The Italian Research Evaluation assessment for the period 2004-10 (VQR 2004-10) has analyzed almost 185,000 articles, books, patents, and other scientific outcomes submitted for evaluation by Italian universities and other public research bodies. This article describes the main features of this exercise, introducing its legal framework and the criteria used for evaluation. The innovative methodology that has been used for evaluation, based on a combination of peer review and bibliometric methods, is discussed and indicators for assessing the quality of participating research bodies are derived accordingly. The article also presents the main results obtained at the University level, trying to understand the existing relationship among research quality and University characteristics such as location, dimension, age, scientific specialization, and funding

Pour faire une histoire des listes à l'époque moderne

Ce livre est le tout premier volume d’une histoire des listes. Chacun d’entre nous a eu à faire face à quelque spécimen de celles-ci : registres, recensements, index… Pour autant, les historiens qui puisent assidûment leurs informations dans ces documents ont négligé d’en faire l’histoire : celle de leur production, de la variété de leurs usages et des surprises que réserve l’étude de leur destin. Ce numéro révèle quelques clés de ce que sont les listes, au-delà de leur aspect formel et de leurs objectifs déclarés. S’il est une frénésie des listes, c’est d’abord dans le volume ahurissant de la production de celles-ci entre les XVe et XVIIIe siècles. Elles deviennent l’outil privilégié des institutions, depuis les plus minuscules municipalités jusqu’aux organismes de contrôle transocéaniques. Loin de se limiter à un support des contrôles et des savoirs d’États, elles font irruption dans tous les domaines. En France, la période de la Ligue tout comme celle de la Révolution donnent lieu à d’authentiques guerres de listes ; mais les listes se trouvent aussi au cœur de l’administration de la foi ou des supports de l’enseignement. Este libro es el primer volumen de una historia sobre las listas. Todos nos hemos encontrado con alguno de estos especímenes: registros, censos, índices… Sin embargo, los historiadores que a menudo obtienen sus informaciones en estos documentos han olvidado realizar una historia sobre ellas: sobre su producción, la variedad de sus usos y las sorpresas que reserva el estudiar su destino. Este número revela algunas claves de lo que son las listas, más allá de su aspecto formal y de sus objetivos declarados. Si hubo un frenesí por las listas, fue ante todo en el volumen increíble de la producción de éstas entre los siglos XV y XVIII. Se convirtieron en la herramienta privilegiada de las instituciones, desde los más minúsculos municipios hasta los organismos de control transoceánicos. Lejos de limitarse a un soporte de los controles y de los saberes de los Estados, irrumpieron en todos los ámbitos. En Francia, los períodos de la Liga y de la Revolución dieron lugar a auténticas guerras de listas; pero las listas también ocupaban un lugar central en la administración de la fe o los soportes docentes. This book is the very first volume of a history of lists. Every one of us has come across some kind of list: registers, censuses, indexes, etc. But for all that, historians who assiduously trawl these documents for information have neglected to record their history—the history of their production, the variety of their uses and of the surprises that await students of their use. This edition offers some clues as to the nature of lists, above and beyond their formal aspects and their stated purposes. One of the prime examples of frenetic list-making is the astonishing amount of these produced between the 15th and 18th centuries. They came to be one of the paramount instruments of institutions, from tiny municipalities to bodies responsible for trans-oceanic control. Far from being confined to purposes of State control and information, lists made their way into all spheres of life. In France, the times of the League and the Revolution alike engendered veritable wars of lists; but lists also lay at the heart of church administration or teaching organisations

Participation and commitment in third-party research funding: evidence from Italian Universities

The paper examines data on third party research of Italian departments and develops a two stage model in which the first stage examines the binary decision to engage into third party research, the second the intensity of third party research as a share of department research budget