The Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Cycle | UniGe

Strategic planning and three-year planning

The University of Genoa's Strategic Plan 2021-2026 outlines our mission, vision, and strategic direction. It defines the strategic and operational objectives for addressing the challenges and opportunities within our social, economic, and territorial context, spanning the rector's mandate.

A collaborative context analysis allowed us to identify the University's strengths, areas for improvement, and the opportunities and obstacles within the current landscape. This analysis serves as a crucial foundation for defining strategic objectives that align with international, national, and regional agendas, respond to community needs, and are sustainable given our resources and growth potential.

The planning process was carried out in the following stages:

Context Analysis	Our internal and external context analysis, detailed in Section I, incorporates various inputs, including departmental programming documents, the Evaluation Committee Report, results from previous planning cycles, and stakeholder feedback. We employ a dual methodology, utilizing both SWOT and PESTEL analyses.
Central Governance and Core Structures	Starting in May 2024, the University's academic leadership—including the Rector, Vice-Rectors, and Delegates—led working groups involving the Academic Senate, the Board of Directors, and our core structures (Schools, Departments, Libraries, and Centers). The Quality Assurance Board (PQA) ensured that quality assurance principles were integrated throughout the entire planning process.
Involvement of external stakeholders	We formalized the contribution of key external stakeholders through a questionnaire distributed between July and September 2024. The results informed the stakeholder mapping in Section I, the context analysis, and the definition of our strategic objectives.
Involvement of internal stakeholders	Students and staff are actively involved through participation in academic governing bodies and satisfaction surveys. To formalize their contribution, a draft of the Strategic Plan was circulated for consultation between July and September 2024, allowing all community members to provide comments and proposals. Feedback was also solicited from trade union representatives and equal opportunity committees.
Approval by the Governing Bodies	Incorporating feedback from all previous phases, the Governing Bodies approved the Strategic Plan 2021-2026 (with its 2025-2027 update) in December 2024, alongside the corresponding three-year budget.

The Strategic Plan serves as the guiding framework for all other University planning instruments, including those for academic programs, research, third mission activities, budgeting, personnel, public works, and the performance cycle for technical and administrative staff.

Participation in the three-year MUR planning

As part of our three-year planning, the University aligns with the national objectives set by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR). We submit a program of actions to request funding, which is contingent upon achieving specific performance indicators set by the Ministry (e.g., PRO3).

Executive planning (performance cycle)

The Integrated Activity and Organization Plan is the primary tool for the executive planning of administrative and technical activities. It addresses the performance cycle, anti-corruption measures, organizational structure, and staff training. Within this plan, strategic and operational objectives are broken down into specific executive objectives that guide support activities and drive the creation of Public Value.

Monitoring

We use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure progress toward our objectives and monitor the University's overall performance, allowing for timely corrective actions. These indicators are designed to be representative, concise, and comparable. They also help anticipate our institutional evaluation by external bodies, primarily the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System (ANVUR).

For mission-critical activities (teaching, research), KPIs measure the achievement of strategic and operational objectives. This set includes indicators used by MUR for funding allocations (PRO3) and by ANVUR for university and course accreditation (AVA system).
For support activities, KPIs measure the effectiveness, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of our administrative and technical services, with a strong focus on user satisfaction.

Reporting on results

The achievement of our strategic and operational objectives is formally assessed in the Rector's Annual Report, which is approved alongside the University's final budget statement. This report also includes an aggregated summary of departmental results.

Separately, the achievement of executive objectives (organizational performance) is detailed in the annual Performance Report.

The degree of achievement of strategic and operational objectives is assessed and reported as part of the Report of the Rector on the results of research, training and technology transfer activities, when approving the Annual Report.

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