  Nations with non-competitive higher education systems and with high levels of
corruption, are more exposed to phenomena of discrimination and favoritism in
faculty recruitment. Italy is a case in point, as shown by empirical studies,
judicial reports and media attention. Governments have intervened repeatedly to
reduce the problem, with scarce success. The 2010 reforms to the university
recruitment system provided that access to the ranks of associate and full
professor would now be possible only through an initial "scientific
habilitation" to be awarded by sectorial committees of national experts. The
objective of this work is to analyze the relationship of the recent
habilitation procedure outcomes to the actual scientific merit of the various
candidates, as well as to other variables that are explicative of possible
practices of favoritism and discrimination. The analyses identify the presence
of potential cases of discrimination and favoritism.
