The UK and Italian research assessment exercises face to face

Abstract

In the UK the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is being replaced by the Research Excellence Framework (REF); similarly, in Italy the former Research Evaluation Exercise (VTR 2001-2003) has been revised and extended and a new cycle of assessment was activated in Autumn 2011 (VQR 2004-2010). The analysis of the development and the consequences of both British and Italian assessment exercises is carried out on the basis of three theoretical frameworks - new public management (NPM), neo-institutional sociology (NIS), and organisational control theory (OCT). This last framework is crucial because the control systems have an effective sense-making capacity and it also exposes a different awareness about control systems in the British and Italian experiences. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.