European Higher Education Area (EHEA): policy developments and trends
Deadline for abstract submission ( October 30, 2025 ) Deadline for article submission ( February 15, 2026 )
Fifteen years after the launch of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the higher education sector in Europe is facing new challenges at regional and global level. Cross-cutting issues such as system design, recognition of qualifications and quality assurance remain central to international dialogue and national education and training agendas.
Policies and trends in academic freedom, the social impact of higher education, automatic recognition, micro-credentials and transnational education (TNE), together with new forms of teaching and learning, are evolving and being tested by all higher education institutions.
These elements, combined with digitalisation and artificial intelligence, pose new challenges and require innovative solutions in the field of academic education and research.
This call for papers invites original contributions that explore the historical, legal, ethical and socio-political dimensions and impacts of higher education linked to developments triggered by the EHEA, also bearing in mind the various critical voices referring but not limited to a bureaucratisation of procedures in education systems and/or a lack of involvement of the academic community in all its forms (scholars, students and administrative staff). We particularly welcome studies that examine the following aspects:
• One or more of the three pillars of the EHEA: qualification frameworks, recognition and quality assurance.
• The TNE sector and other forms of international collaboration.
• Historical and systemic aspects of the functioning and organisation of the EHEA.
• Digital transformation and artificial intelligence.
• Aspects related to fundamental principles in higher education, including academic freedom and institutional autonomy.
• Analysis of EHEA ministerial communiqués and the role and documentation produced by the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG).
• The role and participation of stakeholders in the EHEA.
• Global impact and openness to other regions of the world of the EHEA.
• The evolution of lifelong learning in the EHEA, including new developments on micro-credentials and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
• The global impact of the EHEA and its dialogue with other regions of the world.
• The social impact of higher education, particularly in relation to equity, inclusion, civic engagement and democratic values.
• The role of the EHEA as an intergovernmental voluntary process in supporting international mobility of students and higher education institutions’ staff, and the internationalisation of Higher Education.
We welcome contributions from a multidisciplinary perspective, particularly in the fields of law, pedagogy, history, sociology and the philosophy of education.
Abstract Rules:
An abstract in Italian and English (max 1,500 characters).
Six keywords in Italian and English.
A short biography of the author, including:
Name and surname.
Research interests (not publication titles).
Any university or institution of affiliation, with the role held
Deadline for abstract submission ( October 30, 2025 )
Deadline for article submission ( February 16, 2026 )
The text must be sent to the Editorial Staff exclusively in Word format (doc or docx), to the e-mail address: redazione@rivistauniversitas.it.
Click on the buttons below to download the pdf of the editorial norms and the code of ethics:
Editorial Norms – “Universitas” Journal
By submitting a manuscript to “Universitas”, the author implicitly agrees to the following conditions:
• Publication is free of charge.
• The manuscript must be submitted exclusively in Word format (.doc or .docx) to the editorial office at the email address: redazione@rivistauniversitas.it.
• Manuscripts will not be returned.
• Authors whose contributions are accepted agree to adhere to the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Peer Review
The journal adopts a double-blind peer review process, in which the identity of both authors and reviewers is kept confidential. All submissions are initially subject to an internal preliminary evaluation to verify minimum scientific requirements for publication. At this stage, the editorial office may request additions or modifications to the manuscript. Essays that pass this initial review are sent for anonymous evaluation (double-blind peer review) by external referees selected based on their expertise in the relevant subject. Authors are strongly encouraged to take into serious consideration the reviewers’ comments during the review process. The final decision regarding publication rests exclusively with the Scientific Board of the journal.
Contribution Format:
• Essays, including notes and bibliographic references, must not exceed 55,000 characters (including spaces).
• Reviews must not exceed 15,000 characters.
• If a contribution is particularly relevant or original, the Editorial Board may waive the above limits.
Formatting Guidelines:
• Paragraphs must be indented.
• Font: Times New Roman.
Size 12 for the main text.
Size 10 for footnotes.
• Line spacing:
1.5 for main text.
1 for footnotes.
Each essay must be accompanied by:
• An abstract in Italian and English (max. 1,500 characters).
• Six keywords in Italian and English.
• A short author biography, including:
Full name.
Research interests (not publication titles).
Affiliation and role at any university or institution (if applicable).
Reviews:
The review title must include:
• Full name of the author or editor.
• Full book title.
• Total number of pages.
Text and Quotations:
Essays may be divided into paragraphs, subparagraphs, and sub-subparagraphs. These must be numbered and italicized in Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing, without indentation.
Examples:
I. 1. Introduction
II. 1.2. Economic relations before the war
III. 1.2.3. Further information on diplomatic missions
Full names must be spelled out when first mentioned in both text and notes and without abbreviations (Mario Rossi, Giorgia Bianchi etc.), abbreviations (e.g., M. Rossi, G. Bianchi etc.) or just the last name (Rossi) may be used subsequently.
Names of political parties and movements, nations, states, kingdoms, institutions and various bodies should be capitalized and fully spelled out when first mentioned in both text and notes: Partito Socialista Italiano, Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Regno delle Due Sicilie, Great Britain, European Union etc.
Titles of books, pamphlets, articles, essays, songs, poems, conference papers, and artworks should be italicized. Use Roman font with quotation marks (“ ”) for names of journals, magazines and newspapers
Examples:
a) Storia dell’Istruzione italiana dal 1900 al 2000.
b) “Cimea, Universitas. Politica, Economia, Giuridica”.
c) Aldo Moro was considered the political and strategic “reference” of the Christian Democrat party.
d) Per molti cittadini, la distinzione tra legalità e legittimità risultava poco chiara e spesso confusa.
Citations shorter than three lines should be in « ». Citations of three or more lines should appear without quotation marks, in size 10 font, aligned with the text and separated by one blank line (size 12) above and below, with indented paragraphs. In footnotes, all quotations (even if long) should be in « ».
Secondary quotations within « » must be enclosed in “ ” and never in ‘’ or similar. This refers to both text and footnotes. For example: «Cavour, addressing Vittorio Emanuele II after unification, stated: “Italy is made, now we must make Italians.”». Omissions should be indicated with three dots in square brackets […].
Footnotes and Bibliographic References:
Footnotes must appear at the bottom of the page. In-text references should be in superscript before punctuation, without spacing between the word or the number.
Examples:
1241, European Union1. Thats is1, or1:
When citing books, essays, articles, etc., follow these rules:
- Full author name must appear at first mention, without abbreviation
- In the case of an editor, the name and surname must be followed by (edited by) and a comma. If there is more than one author or editor, their names and surnames must be separated by commas.
- For more than three authors/editors, use et al. after the third name. Do not use “AA.VV.”, Various Authors or similar.
- Complete titles should be italicized. Vol. 3 will indicate the third volume of a work in multiple volumes; in no cases write “volume 3,” “vol. 3,” or “3° Vol.” or similar.
- Use “3 vols.” for a work in three volumes. If present, indicate the Volume with Roman numerals in capital letters.
- Any indication of name(s) and surname(s) of the author(s) or translator(s), if the information is important for the functionality of the text, goes after the title.
- The publisher, place and year of publication will be indicated in that order. Do not put a comma between the place of publication and the year. In the absence of the publisher and/or place of publication and/or year of publication, write s.e., s.l., s.a. respectively.
- When citing works published outside Italy, the place of publication must be reported as it appears in the original cited text (Paris, London, Berlin, etc.).
- The page number(s) to which reference is made must be preceded by p. or pp., never by pag. or pagg. and similar. If the reference is to several consecutive pages, separate them with a hyphen, if not consecutive, with a comma. If you intend to generically indicate several following pages, after the first page to which you refer write sg. (pp. 155 sg.), in no case seguinti, seg., segg. or similar. The numerical indication of the pages must always be complete (pp. 355-359), never abbreviated or simplified (pp. 355-9 or pp. 355-59). In the absence of the page number(s) in the work cited, write s.n.p.
- In the case of essays or other writings contained in a volume, indicate the relevant page numbers.
Examples:
a) Elena Martelli, The Cities of the Medieval Mediterranean, Vol. 2, Il Mulino, Bologna 2011, pp. 103 ff.
b) Luca Ferri, Italy and its Social Transformations, Vol. 1, From Unification to the Republic, Preface by Chiara Neri, Carocci, Rome 2003, pp. 89-104.
c) Chiara Neri, Luca Ferri (edited by), The Regions of Italy, Vol. 2, The South, Volume I, pp. 172, 176-179.
d) James Black, The Cold War in Europe, in Sarah White, George Grey, Anna Bright (edited by), Global Conflicts of the Twentieth Century, Routledge, London 2008, pp. 212-229.
Journal, Magazine, and Newspaper Citations
In addition to the general rules already provided for author and title, the following specific rules should be followed:
- Journal names go in quotation marks (“ ”), not in « » or ‘ ’.
- If necessary, it is possible to indicate the year of the journal only in Roman numerals, without prefixing words such as year, a. or similar.
- Use n. for issue number. Do not use number, num., fasc., or n°.
- The month or date (for daily/weekly publications) should always be written out in full: e.g. September, 10 November. Avoid abbreviations such as sett., 10 nov., 10/11.
- Use n.d. (no date) or n.y. (no year) if missing.
- Page references must use p. or pp.; never pag., pagg., etc.
- In the presence of pseudonyms or abbreviated names, if possible, write the full name in square brackets. Ex.: Vladimiro [Gianni Ricci].
Examples:
a) Laura Gentili, I sistemi fiscali del secondo dopoguerra, “Annali di economia italiana”, n. 1 2017, pp. 145–150.
b) Andrea Costa, Marta Luciani, I consumi culturali nelle città italiane del Novecento, “Ricerche storiche”, XX, n. 2 2005, pp. 201-230.
c) Pietro Marini, La riforma agraria e il voto contadino. Prima giornata, “Il Popolo”, 22 May 1951.
d) Euridice [Giulia Zanetti], Il centro-sinistra in crisi, “Politica democratica”, n. 4, October 1962, pp. 95–112.
Subsequent Citations and Recurring Expressions
When citing a work that has already been mentioned in a previous footnote, it is sufficient to include only the surname of the author(s), any relevant qualifications such as (ed.) or et al., followed by the shortened title of the work, three full stops, and the expression cit. Expressions such as op. cit. should not be used. If the work is divided into multiple volumes, the relevant volume should always be specified after the expression … cit.
Examples:- Alessandro Riva, La politica economica italiana nel secondo dopoguerra, Donzelli, Rome 1993, should later be cited as: Riva, La politica economica italiana… cit.
- Giulia Fontana, Marco Galli (eds.), Le istituzioni politiche italiane, Vol. 2, Il Mulino, Bologna 2014, should later be cited as: Fontana, Galli (eds.), Le istituzioni politiche italiane… cit., Vol. 2.
- Lucia Carli, Roberto Neri, Paolo Romano, L’Italia centro-settentrionale nel Novecento, Vol. 1, Carocci, Rome 2001, should later be cited as: Carli, Neri, Romano, L’Italia centro-settentrionale… cit., Vol. 1.
When multiple works by the same author or editor are cited in the same footnote or in consecutive footnotes, without interruptions by other citations, the following abbreviations are used (in Roman font):
- Id. → same male author or editor.
- Ead. → same female author(s)/editor(s) or multiple authors.
- Ibidem → same work and same page(s).
- Ivi → same work but different page(s).
If multiple contributions are included in the same volume or issue of a journal, use ivi followed by the page numbers. If they come from different issues of the same journal, this must be specified.
Examples:- Marta Colombo, Strategie culturali del Novecento, in Federico Rinaldi (ed.), L’Italia nella modernità, Laterza, Bari 2000, pp. 100–120, and Andrea Venturi, Cinema e propaganda politica, ivi, pp. 121–135.
- Anna Lodi, Riforme fiscali e crescita economica, “Quaderni di economia pubblica”, no. 1, 2011, pp. 45–70, and Roberto Caruso, Le imposte dirette nella ricostruzione, ivi, pp. 71–95.
- Anna Lodi, Riforme fiscali e crescita economica, “Quaderni di economia pubblica”, no. 1, 2011, pp. 45–70, and Silvia De Luca, La fiscalità nei territori coloniali, ivi, no. 2, 2012, pp. 101–115.
References to footnotes, whether in the text or in a footnote, must always be made using the words nota or note written out in full, along with the precise numerical reference (e.g., nota 5, note 6 e 7). Abbreviations such as n. or nn. must not be used.
Archival References
In the first citation, the name of the archive or archival collection must be reported in full, with the indication of the location and/or the institution that holds it (library, institute, etc.). Any acronyms or abbreviations to be used in subsequent citations are indicated in round brackets.
For foreign archives, the original language and the exact name of the institution or place are maintained.
Abbreviations for use in archival references:
• b./bb. = binder(s)
• f./ff. = folder(s)
• sf./sff. = sub-folder(s)
• ssf./ssff. = sub-sub-folder(s)
• c./cc. = page(s)
• doc./docc. = document(s)
• pos./poss. = position(s)
• foglio/fogli = sheet(s)
• n./nn. = number(s)
Use the following as per monograph and journal rules:
• Ibidem = same font and same position;
• Ivi = same font but different postion.
Archival documents (letters, reports, etc.) should be in Roman font, not italicized.
Acronyms
Acronyms are written in capital letters without full stops (e.g. CEE, IRI, ACS). At the first occurrence in the text or in a note, the full name of the organization or institution must be reported in full, with the acronym in round brackets, to be used in subsequent citations.
This rule applies to Italian and foreign institutions, parties, movements, archives, documentary collections.
Foreign Languages
• Common foreign words (e.g., film, leader) in regular font.
• Uncommon or untranslated words in italics with an Italian translation in round brackets.
• Names of institutions, political parties, unions, etc., in Roman font, without italics.
• Journal and newspaper names in quotation marks (“ ”); translate if uncommon.
Examples:
• pour cause, gender history, credo quia absurdum
• mamlakhtiyut (statism), kibush ha-‘avodah (the conquest of labour)
• Confédération Générale du Travail, United Nations, Deutsche Zentrumspartei
• “Le Figaro”, “The Washington Post”, “Trybuna Ludu” (People’s Tribune)
Quotes in English, French, or Latin (inside « ») do not require translation. Others must be translated.
Web, E-books, Digital Resources
When citing web pages (sites, online magazines, digital libraries, newspaper libraries, etc.), it is advisable to report the complete link, followed in square brackets by the indication [last access: date]. If relevant, also indicate the name of the site from which the content comes. In the case of e-books, it is necessary to specify the format immediately after the year of publication.
Examples:
a) Claudio Martini, La Resistenza nel Nord Italia, “Storia e Memoria”, n. 1 2020: https://www.storiaememoria.it/articoli/resistenza_nord [last access 5 March 2023].
b) Available on the website of the Digital Library of the Constituent Assembly: https://www.costituente.biblioteca.it/documenti/atti_completi [last accessed January 12, 2024].
c) Paola Righi, Politica e comunicazione nell’era digitale, Il Mulino, Bologna 2021, e-book.
Final bibliography:
NEVER include a final bibliography, maintaining the given that all titles cited in the notes be complete with all the required bibliographic information. All titles must appear in the notes with full bibliographic information.
Code of Ethics of the “Universitas” Journal
Preamble
Universitas. Rivista Online interdisciplinare adopts a peer review procedure based on the double-blind system to ensure impartial scientific evaluation. This system guarantees that reviewers do not know the identity of the authors and vice versa.
This Code of Ethics adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), promoting an ethical and transparent approach to academic publishing. All parties involved in the editorial process (Head Office, Editorial Board, Reviewers and Authors) are required to comply with the provisions herein.
The journal adopts an open access publishing model and is committed to ensuring scientific quality, transparency in academic debate and the integrity of research.
1. Duties of Authors
Originality and Plagiarism
Authors must submit original and unpublished works. The use of others’ work must be properly cited with full bibliographic references. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are serious ethical violations and may result in referrals to authorities and sanctions.
Multiple Submissions
Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal or duplicate publication of substantially similar content in different journals is not allowed.
Authorship and Contributors
Only those who have significantly contributed to the research can be listed as authors. Other contributors must be explicitly acknowledged in the acknowledgments section.
Corresponding Author
The corresponding author must ensure correct attribution of all co-authors and obtain their approval of the final version of the article.
Funding and Conflicts of Interest
All sources of financial support must be disclosed. Authors must declare any conflicts of interest (financial or otherwise) that could influence the results or interpretation of the research.
Copyright and Permissions
Authors must ensure that the content does not infringe third-party rights. Any required permissions or releases must be obtained in advance.
Errors and Retractions
If an author identifies a significant error in their published article, they must promptly notify the Management to initiate appropriate corrections or retractions.
2. Duties of Reviewers (Peer Reviewers)
Qualification and Responsibility
Reviewers are selected among scholars with proven expertise in the relevant field. They must promptly notify the Editorial Board if unable to carry out the review in a timely manner or if lacking the required expertise.
Confidentiality
Manuscripts under review are confidential documents. They must not be shared or discussed without the explicit authorization of the Scientific Committee.
Objectivity
The review must be conducted objectively, avoiding personal judgments. Comments should be clear, reasoned and constructive.
Sources and References
Reviewers are expected to point out significant bibliographic omissions or substantial similarities with other published works.
Conflicts of Interest
Reviewers must refrain from evaluating manuscripts in case of conflicts of interest stemming from collaborations, competition or personal relationships with the authors.
3. Duties of the Editorial Board Coordinator
• Impartiality: the evaluation of submissions is based solely on scientific merit.
• Confidentiality: all manuscript-related information is handled confidentially.
• Integrity: unpublished material in the manuscripts may not be used for personal purposes without the author’s consent.
• Guaranteeing the peer review process: the Coordinator ensures that reviews are conducted correctly, anonymously, consistently and traceably.
4. Duties of the Scientific Committee
The Scientific Committee oversees the entire editorial process, ensuring adherence to scientific and ethical standards. In case of doubts about the ethical validity of the research or the submitted content, it may request clarifications and supporting documentation. It is responsible for implementing appropriate measures in case of Code violations, including suspension, retraction, or the publication of corrections.
5. Transparency and Scientific Debate
The journal promotes transparency in scientific debate by accepting responses or comments on previously published articles, in the form of notes or letters to the Editor. These contributions will be evaluated with equal scientific rigor.
6. Adherence to the ANVUR Code of Ethics
All members of the Scientific Committee and the Editorial Board commit to complying with the provisions of the ANVUR Code of Ethics, including rules on the declaration of conflicts of interest, participation in evaluation bodies and transparency of academic affiliations.