Social reporting and accountability in Italian academic systems

Purpose of the article This paper aims to give an overview of accountability systems in Italian universities and of their prospects following recent reform laws. After a sketch on the improvement of non-financial communication towards stakeholders, the work deals with social reporting in academic research and education, its potential developments and the first results reached. Methodology/methods The research methodology used, based on observed cases analysis and content analysis, provides us with an interesting overview of the state-of-the-art and allows us to make some preliminary assessments about what lies behind the behavior that universities should adopt according to the reform. After a brief analysis of the most relevant literature regarding the topic, we shall address and compare Italian experiences of social reporting. Scientific aim This work aims to expand the set of knowledge related to accountability tools typical of university systems. Findings Effective accountability systems can indeed turn from tools into goals in public administrations, and in doing so reporting takes on a completely different meaning: it is a contribution to the social added value created by the university, an extra obligation to take towards stakeholders, a further service to engage in to strengthen democracy. Conclusions The culture of accountability should be introduced and guided mainly by law, with legal requirements about deadlines, tools and goals, and supervised by third-party authorities. Further work is still needed to fully grasp measurement complexities and the potential lying in the evaluation of academic performance – especially with relation to sociality and sustainability – that plays an important role in national and international ranking systems.