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This paper deals with the potential failure of evaluation in Italian universities and shows how it risks slipping towards ritual behaviour. The study uses empirical data collected with a closed answer questionnaire and a series of open interviews with top‐level university representatives and evaluators to examine the real and potential influence of six critical factors that literature indicates as being responsible for the failure of evaluation systems. The three most significant elements shown by our data are internal governance, which is disinclined to use evaluation output; the presence of conflicts of interest among evaluators; and the limited scope of the methodologies used for producing effective evaluation output. In conclusion, the paper gives some indications for preventing and keeping at bay crisis phenomena and the degeneration of evaluation.