Improving quality and plurality of academic staff in Universities

In the last decades the world of higher education has undergone many transformations in the field of offer differentiation and has been the scenario of “structural” changes, differentiating both in institutions and programs, with the development of new national and international networks. While public authorities still play a crucial role in regulating and coordinating the delivery of higher education, there has been a gradual shift from strict control to new forms of organization and authority, in particular through new models of governance, funding and systems of quality assurance. The “Bologna Process” has also contributed to “structural” changes in the sector, regarding in particular curricular reforms, quality assurance and mobility. In this context academic staff plays a crucial role facing the increase in requests from civil society and from economic world and European Commission has emphasized its centrality in relation to the improvement of higher education, both in terms of skills and motivation. Starting from Eurydice Report entitled “Modernization of Higher Education in Europe: Academic Staff – 2017”, integrated with Eurostat data, the paper aims to analyze the current status of European Union academic staff (putting focus on the most representative academic staff categories, primarily those involved in teaching and/or in research activities), especially in terms of qualifications, working conditions, remuneration, professional development, gender equality, paying special attention to the policies which can be adopted for its evolution on all these aspects and also in terms of quality assurance and evaluation of academic staff.