## 4 Case Study
* Curriculum Review: Analyzing the curriculum of each degree program to identify required courses and their corresponding teaching hours. * Faculty Resource Inventory: Assessing the available teaching capacity of existing faculty and researchers, considering their expertise, teaching load, and other commitments. * Budgetary Considerations: Determining the available budget for paid teaching assignments and external contracts. Allocation of Institutional Teaching D duties: Initial teaching duties are assigned to tenured professors and fixed-term researchers (RtD) affiliated with the relevant department. This allocation is based on their expertise, teaching load agreements, and departmental needs. Clear guidelines and transparent criteria are used for this initial assignment. Internal Mobility and Availability Check: A university-wide inquiry is conducted to identify professors and researchers in the same scientific disciplinary sector who have not yet fulfilled their required teaching load and possess the necessary expertise to cover unassigned courses. This promotes efficient use of existing faculty resources and minimizes the need for external hires. A centralized system for tracking teaching loads and expertise would streamline this process. Additional Internal Assignments: Additional teaching assignments, either unpaid or paid (subject to individual consent, eligibility criteria, and budgetary constraints), are offered. Priority is given to professors and researchers within the department and then, if necessary, to those in other departments within the university. A clear policy outlining the criteria for paid additional assignments (e.g., exceeding required teaching hours, specialized expertise) ensures fairness and transparency. External Assignments (Visiting Professors/Researchers): If internal resources remain insufficient, assignments are offered to professors and researchers from other universities. This process involves public selection, managed by the relevant department, to ensure merit-based selection. Clear selection criteria, including teaching experience, research record, and proposed course content, are published. These assignments can be either unpaid (e.g., for collaborative research or prestige) or paid. Teaching Contracts (External Lectures): As a last resort, if the teaching needs outlined in the educational offer remain unmet after the previous steps, teaching contracts are awarded to external lecturers. These contracts are subject to budgetary constraints and awarded pursuant to Article 23 of Law 240/2010, following a comparative evaluation process. This process includes a review of candidates' qualifications, teaching experience, and proposed course content, ensuring that external hires meet the university's standards. Transparent selection criteria and a documented rationale for each contract awarded are essential. This hierarchical approach ensures efficient use of internal resources while adhering to legal and regulatory requirements. Table 1 presents a detailed summary of the preliminary phases in the teaching assignment process at the University of Basilicata. These phases, structured according to current regulations, outline the workflow and responsibilities associated with each step of the process. The table provides a clear picture of the interactions among the stakeholders involved, as well as the documentation required for each phase. The table is essential for understanding how teaching assignment activities are organized and coordinated within the institution, providing a reference point for the critical analysis of inefficiencies and potential areas for improvement identified in this study. This detailed approach allows for visualizing the interdependencies in the process, and it facilitates the subsequent development of more accurate simulation models, which will be used to evaluate and optimize workflows.