The AVA system (self-evaluation, periodic evaluation, accreditation) groups together the activities carried out by the  National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System (ANVUR) as provided for by law 20/12/2010 n. 240 and legislative decree 27/01/ 2012, n. 19. The aforementioned legislations provide for the introduction of the initial and periodic accreditation of the courses of studies and the university centres, and the periodic evaluation of the quality of didactic and research activities of universities.

The ANVUR is in charge of setting methods, criteria, parameters and indicators for accreditation and periodic evaluation. Moreover, it performs the task of monitoring and verifying parameters and indicators for periodic accreditation and evaluation, with a view to the allocation of the annual bonus quota.

The supporting elements of the integrated AVA system, which are more detailed in the document (see annex) approved by the ANVUR Board of Directors, largely derive from the ENQA Document on Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) (EN – IT), approved by the Ministers responsible for higher education at the Bergen Conference in 2005, and adopted in the Council Recommendation of the European Parliament (2006/143 / EC).

Universities have begun to progressively apply the integrated AVA system from 2013, with the issuance of DM 47/2013 (modified by DM 1059/2013), which transposed the ANVUR directives.

After more than two years since its inception, ANVUR, in close collaboration with CRUI and MIUR, reflected on the accumulated experience to recognise the strengths of the AVA system and pinpoint gaps and any weaknesses, in order to modify or eliminate its least effective and less productive aspects, also adopting new tools. For this purpose, ANVUR has set up a working group consisting of academics who have different roles and responsibilities in the quality assurance system and in the evaluation process. Through a joint analysis work, the revision of the AVA system pursued the main goal of achieving a substantial simplification of the system and lightened the administrative burden, guaranteeing, at the same time, greater compliance with ESG 2015 European standards and maintaining its own fundamental goals.

This review was implemented in the Italian ministerial decree 987/2016, following which ANVUR has published the new guidelines for periodic accreditation of university sites and courses of studies that will be adopted starting from 2017.

In developing the AVA system, ANVUR operates under the three principles guiding universities: autonomy, responsibility and evaluation.