Faltering Effects of Market-Oriented Reforms on Italian Higher Education. Focus on Reforms Promoting Competition

The effects of market-oriented reforms on Italian higher education are analysed illustrating the general features of Italian higher education system and institutions, reviewing the main changes occurred in Italian higher education institutional environment, discussing recent reform policies in three main areas: 1) competition for students’ attraction and the conditions for their mobility; 2) the academic labour market in terms of scholars’ recruitment, mobility and career; 3) the evaluation-based competition in research and in research financing.