The new Italian graduation system and the new institutions for raising university funds in Italy

The Italian university system has undergone two reforms in recent years. One has been introduced by the Ministerial Decrees 3 November 1999, n. 509 and 22 October 2004 n. 207. The other has been introduced by the law 23 December 2000 n. 388 art. 59, c.3. and by the Presidential Decree 24 May 2001, n. 254. The former compels Italian universities, whether public (the majority) or private (a tiny minority) to change their graduation system and courses. The latter enables State universities to establish university foundations (fondazioni universitarie) with the purpose to support their teaching and research activities and, in particular, to extend the sources of their financing to subjects other than the State. The aim of this paper is to present the main features of these reforms. It will show that while the new graduation system conforms to the guidelines of the overarching Bologna Process, which encompasses 45 countries to date, the new university foundations were devised outside of this Process and in view of the obstacles faced by Italian State universities in running their activities and in raising additional funds for their further development especially in the direction of research and technology transfer.