As a coordinator of one of the sub-groups evaluating research in Italy¡¯s present VQR (¡°Evaluation of Research Quality¡±), I can assure the UK public that our evaluation procedure is alive and well (¡°Academics in Italy have boycotted assessment. What has it achieved?¡±, Opinion, 21 April).
The participation rate has dropped by only 3.3 percentage points from the previous VQR (95.3 per cent to 92 per cent). There is a stable 5?per cent of professors who are not publishing anything, so that 8?per cent drops to 3 per cent who are real protesters.
I agree completely with colleagues who are protesting nationwide about salaries and funding, but I do not think that they have chosen the right action. Having scarce governmental funds distributed according to merit and not academic camarillas is a common interest. The present method has some shortcomings but nobody really wants to go back to the past.
Carlo Natali
Via timeshighereducation.com
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