Appointing university professors in Italy, the need for a change

The Italian university system is in crisis due to unwise policies, both in the recruitment of professors and in the design of curricula. Professors are appointed by careful procedures privileging formal accomplishments and disregarding substance. The reform of university curricula lowered the quality of undergraduate courses, re-aligning them with those of other countries, but this was not counterbalanced by a parallel upgrade of Italian PhD courses.