Conference Program

The current debate on the future of higher education(HE)in Italy has been sparked by international studies highlighting that the Italian university system lags significantly behind certain European averages in terms of the percentage of young graduates and their ability to address the challenges of contemporary society.This evidence suggests that this gap cannot be interpreted solely in quantitative terms, but must be understood as a symptom of a deeper misalignment between educational models rooted in the past and the learning styles of the new generations.In this sense,the Italian university model still appears tied to traditional pedagogical paradigms that struggle to adapt to the cultural,technological,and cognitive transformations characterizing contemporary educational contexts.This paper offers a critical reflection on the transformations of the university learning ecosystem,focusing in particular on the processes through which academic institutions are attempting to redefine their teaching practices.In this context,a central element concerns the growing focus on the pedagogical training of university faculty,promoted in part through the proliferation of Teaching and Learning Centers (TLCs),which represent one of the main tools through which universities seek to support faculty professional development, fostering the development of pedagogical,digital,and assessment skills,and promoting teaching practices more oriented toward active student participation.This renewed focus on the pedagogical dimension, however,is part of a broader transformation of university learning environments.The gradual integration of digital platforms with asynchronous or blended teaching models and the use of AI has in fact helped redefine not only how educational content is accessed, but also the timing of learning,the relational dynamics between faculty and students,and the ways in which knowledge is constructed.At the same time,these pedagogical and organizational transformations are part of broader processes of restructuring educational policies that,in recent decades,have progressively redefined the role of the university in contemporary societies.In particular,the growing prevalence of governance models inspired by principles of efficiency and competitiveness can be interpreted in light of the neoliberalization of HE,which has contributed to promoting dynamics of institutional differentiation.In this context, the principle of normative equivalence which characterizes the Italian university system and recognizes equal validity for degrees awarded by state, non-state, private, and online universities takes on particular significance.While this principle guarantees a formal legal equivalence of educational programs, it also raises significant questions regarding the actual conditions under which teaching and learning processes unfold.Questioning the equivalence of the institutional nature of universities means, in fact, also questioning the effectiveness of educational processes and the ways in which students develop disciplinary and cross-disciplinary competencies.From this perspective, the apparent regulatory homogeneity of the university system does not necessarily imply a real equivalence of learning conditions.Structural and organizational differences regarding available resources, pedagogical cultures,and educational infrastructure can significantly impact students’ educational experiences.Critically analyzing the relationship between the institutional nature of universities, the configuration of learning environments,and the development of students’ competencies therefore allows us to problematize the very idea of equivalence among institutions and to contribute to a broader reflection on the transformations and future prospects of HE in the Italian context.