Abstract

Almost ten years have elapsed since the start of evaluation activities in Italian academia. Some of these activities (ASN, VQR) have already accumulated the experience of more than one exercise, often with relevant repercussions for personal careers, educational programs and the distribution of resources to the structures that host training and research. In this period of time, academic psychology has been an active actor, sometimes showing internal cohesion and sharing, other times expressing the need for more articulation and differentiation, but never appearing unprepared towards the commitment represented by evaluation. The aim of this article is to understand, by looking at this relatively short past, whether among the many aspects of evaluation activities (in particular AVA, VQR, ASN and PRIN) some could be deemed fundamental, or should instead be changed to improve future practices and, more in particular, whether peculiarities of psychology evaluation are there that deserve special consideration in the dialogue with institutions and policymakers.