Sommario: 

1. La nozione di universitas e le trasformazioni del sistema universitario.

2. La contraddizione tra omogeneità e sfilacciamento del sistema e l’introduzione di meccanismi di competizione tra atenei. 

3. Caratteri e regime giuridico delle università non statali. 

4. Caratteri e regime giuridico delle università a distanza. 

5. Conclusioni

Abstract: 

The purpose of this article is to investigate the articulated constellation of private universities in the light of both the law reforming Italian universities enacted in 2010 and its implementation by the courts. The article shows how nowadays the concept of “non public universities” encompasses a wide variety of institutions, sometimes very different one from the other, so that it is necessary to identify the characteristics of the single institution case by case. In this landscape, a special position is held by online universities, which are governed by a very loose and scattered legislation, being most of their regulation delegated to the decisions of the National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (Agenzia nazionale di valutazione del sistema universitario e della ricerca-ANVUR) and of the administrative courts.