Anvur's research quality assessment (VQR 2023-2027) confirms the quality of research conducted at UniTrento. Seven of the ten departments of the University are among the 180 best Italian departments and will receive additional funding, in addition to the 55.5 million euro that were allocated in 2018. UniTrento is the only medium-sized Italian university with more than two departments of excellence.
Rector Flavio Deflorian expressed his satisfaction for the achievement: "This confirms that UniTrento is among the most competitive universities for research in Italy". 70-80% of resources will be used to hire new teaching and research staff.
The quality of the research conducted at the University of Trentino has been recognized once again. The Research Quality Assessment (VQR 2023-2027) carried out by Anvur examined the performance of 58 Italian state universities and identified 350 departments of excellence. The ranking drawn up by Anvur and published today by the Ministry of University and Research confirms the excellent result of the University, in line with the 2018 assessment, that had brought to Trento an additional 55.5 million euro funding.
With today's assessment, the University will receive another 48.9 million euro for the five-year period 2023-27: a recognition of the quality of research conducted by seven of the ten departments of the University that had already passed the first phase of the selection process in May.
Six of the seven departments "of excellence" had already received the title in the previous assessment. These are the departments of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Law, Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Humanities, Sociology and Social Research. For the first time, the list includes the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (Cibio). The departments of Physics, Information Engineering and Computer Science and Mathematics, which had successfully passed the first phase in May and obtained excellent scores from the ISPD indicator based on the 2015-2019 VQR, have not managed to pass to the second phase because of the strong competition in the respective disciplinary areas at national level.
Rector Flavio Deflorian expressed his satisfaction: "This is a very good result. I must admit that I had lowered my expectations because the competition at national level in recent years has become fierce. In 2018, the departments that obtained additional funding were eight. This time they are seven. The final results could perhaps be better in some disciplinary areas but maybe the projects did not get the evaluation we expected. Overall we are again among the Italian universities with the highest success rate. And, examining the data, the University of Trento is the only medium-sized university that has more than two departments of excellence. Our competitors therefore are only large universities."
Rector Deflorian continued: "The funds that we will receive are essential for our development. 70-80% will be used for the recruitment of new academic and research staff. A very positive sign for the quality of our university. This is a call to consolidate the general costs that, as a consequence, will increase and that will not be covered by this funding."
The Fund for the financing of university departments of excellence - The fund was established in 2017 as part of the budget law (law no. 232/2016, article 1, paragraphs 314-337). Starting from 2018 and every five years, the law provides for the annual allocation of 271 million euro for 180 departments of state universities based on excellence in the quality of research and scientific and organizational merit.
With the first round of funding for the Departments of Excellence in the 2018-2022 period, the University of Trento obtained over 55.5 million euro for eight of its departments.
The new departmental development plans, that aim to improve the quality of teaching and research in the 2023-2027 period, were presented at the beginning of October. The evaluation phase ended with the publication of the results on the website of Anvur (the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System) and the calculation of the funds that will be provided to every university.
The funding that the University of Trento has received from the "Fund for the financing of university departments of excellence" therefore amounts overall to over 55.5 million (first round) and 48.9 million euro (second round), an extraordinary result that will help the University grow in terms of teaching and research activities.
The ranking established by Anvur is based on a Standard Performance Indicator (ISPD) that considers the results achieved by departments in the Research Quality Assessment (VQR 2015-2019).