University Delays. Italian Academic Gap as a Media Topic

The journalistic discourse on university reformism is increasingly inspired by a taxonomic anxiety aimed at emphasizing the gap between top ranking universities and the others. The results of some international academic reports highlight the delay of Italian universities, whose international gap is often framed as a media topic. Academic communication intermingles with institutional empowerment of higher education, whose comparative analysis provides an insight into the wider process of accreditation, evaluation and rationalization. Hence the communicative flair of some surveys concerning the Italian university system and journalistic juxtaposition of good and bad universities. Academic quality data on tuition, research, the right to learn, internationalization and the third mission have become fundamental evaluative criteria in a comparative perspective. Some European initiatives aimed at supporting inclusion and mobility can be seen as an important chance for Italian higher education to bridge the gap narrated by the media in line with the taxonomic haste to highlight academic winners and losers.