Evaluating the impact of the Bologna Process on the efficiency convergence of Italian universities: a non-parametric frontier approach

The Bologna Process (BP) promoted a series of wide-ranging reforms of higher education (HE) systems in order to improve the quality of teaching activities across Europe. This paper evaluates the effect of these reforms on the teaching efficiency of Italian universities during the period 2000–2010. We employ bootstrapped data envelopment analysis algorithms to assess teaching efficiency. Then, we examine the convergence of the Italian HE system using several panel data estimators. We find clear evidence that Italian universities have become more efficient over time, consistent with the goals of the BP, but that substantial improvement mainly occurs during the initial period of implementation. Our estimates also show a process of convergence in the performance of the Italian HE system, but we find strong evidence of persistent gaps at both university and regional levels. These empirical findings are robust to an alternative estimator, the empirical strategy, and the employed sample.