Governare l'Università: dalla struttura all'azione

The research consists of a comparative study on Italian and French universities. The thesis is especially focused on the relationship between the formal structure of institutional governance and its actual implementation by daily practices of people who have government roles at the different levels of a university organisation. The concepts of governance and New Public Management are explored and critically analysed as major concepts typically applied in Higher Education policy reforms. National and local empirical case studies are then confronted with the background literature on new managerialism, with a special focus on the social, economic and cultural elements characterising the different institutional settings and giving account for the institutional variety of governing structures and practices. The research methodology is mainly qualitative and inspired by organisational ethnography. Each of the three case studies consisted in about 30 to 40 in-depth interviews with different members of the academic community and governance people, analysis of official documents, and on-site visits of about two to four weeks. A special focus has been given to the interaction between the central institutional government and the periphery (faculties and departments). According to the thesis, three main aspects result as crucial in institutional daily governance: the management of (potential) conflicts, the arguments of people for a slow implementation as a sort of effectiveness strategy, and the development of a collective leadership.