In 1988, the
Ministry of University and Research was split off from the
Ministry of Public Education. In the first Prodi cabinet the two were merged back into the
Ministry of Education, University and Scientific and Technological Research, then as the
Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) in the second and third Berlusconi cabinets. The two were re-separated in the second Prodi cabinet of 17 May 2006, but then re-merged in the fourth Berlusconi cabinet of 7 May 2008. In 2019, the ministry drafted a policy combining evaluation of grants to research institutions with a requirement to publish research outputs in
open access mode. ==Structure==