Abstract

In December 2010, a comprehensive reform (Law 240/2010, or 'Gelmini reform') changed the institutional governance and internal organization of Italian universities. Among the major changes introduced by the reform there are a new university research evaluation assessment, the so-called Valutazione della Qualità della Ricerca, and a new recruitment process for professor positions, the so-called Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale. This paper analyses the results of the research evaluation assessment for the period 2004- 2010 and of the first two rounds of the habilitation procedure in a comparative perspective. We want to analyse whether the universities localised in the different areas of the country (North, Centre, and South) show different performance in the two procedures.