The evolution of Italian universities in terms of growth, economic sustainability and reforms can be interpreted in the light of the élite, mass and universal access categories defined by Martin Trow. The findings from this analysis show that although the number of enrolled students and funding problems propel the Italian university system towards the universal access stage, activities and functioning mechanisms are lagging far behind, since they are still involved in the transition from the élite to mass stage. Interpretation of the changes since 1980 on the basis of the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm and the notion of diversity allows identification of the reasons for this discrepancy as being mostly related to backwardness in terms of ideas and values rather than a lack of management techniques.