ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY IN SMALL-SIZED HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: Sant’Anna SCHOOL BECOMES FIRST TO TOP ITALIAN RANKINGS FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND AGRICULTURE
Sant’Anna School confirms its status as a top level higher education institution in Italy. The ANVUR 2011-2014 report, assessing the (VQR) quality of research activity in Italian universities, shows the quality of research has improved over the last four years. In the evaluation of the small-sized higher education institutions, Sant’Anna School is consistently ranked among the best universities in Italy for biological sciences, agriculture, robotics, informatics, telecommunications, economics, management and medicine.
Pierdomenico Perata, rector of Sant’Anna School, is paying a state visit to China at the invitation of our President Sergio Mattarella, nevertheless, he stresses the ANVUR report shows a substantial increase in grading from 2013 and the amount of effort invested in carrying out the assessment process was worthwhile. The idea that high quality research should have a long lasting impact and that value should be assessed regularly is present in the most important characteristics of top universities. "The VQR 2011-2014 outcomes highlight the effective quality of Sant’Anna School’s research initiatives and thereby, the quality of their graduates. Higher education is becoming a major driver of economic competitiveness. The imperative for educational institutions is to increase the number of scientists and research fellowships and to obtain the best possible scientific results", Perata commented.
"Sant’Anna School has celebrated its thirtieth birthday on February 14. We have managed to raise funds for improving infrastructure for research, establishing new labs and ensuring the quality of the learning environment. We constantly analyze the goals of higher education in light of future economic and societal expectations, as well as we are committed to academic excellence at the highest levels of national and international achievement. In fact, Sant’Anna School has been ranked in the Europe’s top 100 universities, based on the Times Higher Education rankings 2016. The ANVUR report reaffirms our position as one of the world’s top universities; Sant’Anna School research was assessed as leading across the sciences, engineering, and economics and medicine”, Pierdomenico Perata said.
“In the context of the sustained growth and diversification of university systems, civil society is increasingly concerned about the quality of public assessments and comparisons of higher education institutions. As a result, the ANVUR report underlines how institutions are encouraged to implement mechanisms to raise the profile of quality research; the allocation of public funding for education is calculated on the basis of results-based performance and competitive procedures”, Perata finally commented.
