Italy

Country in Europe

Capital: Rome
Dialing code: +39
Currency: Euro
Prime minister: Paolo Gentiloni
Official language: Italian

Italy, a European country with a long Mediterranean coastline, has left a powerful mark on Western culture and cuisine. Its capital, Rome, is home to the Vatican as well as landmark art and ancient ruins. Other major cities include Florence, with Renaissance masterpieces such as Michelangelo’s "David" and Brunelleschi's Duomo; Venice, the city of canals; and Milan, Italy’s fashion capital.
Italian culture is deeply rooted in ancient civilizations which flourished on the peninsula for over a millennium and left their imprint all over the country in arts, legal system and traditions. Thanks to its traditions and innovations, Italy became the cradle of visual arts, music, poetry, literature and played and continues to play an influential role in Europe’s culture and society as a whole.

Today, Italy ranks among the 8 most industrialized countries in the world. Alongside big companies, state-owned and private, it has developed a sound network of small and medium-sized enterprises, promoted scientific parks, and fostered basic and applied research in a wide variety of fields such as biology, ICT, medicine, physics and space science.

Higher Education System

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Italy has a very long tradition in higher education. It is the country where the first and among the most important European Universities were founded during the Middle-ages. Moreover, it has played an important role in European higher education reform as it was engaged to create the so-called “European Area of Higher Education”, which is being implemented all over Europe. Italy has become one of the country in which there has been a significant growth in number of international students in the last 10 years.

At present, the university sector is made up of 89 university institutions classified as state universities, non state universities, universities for foreigners, university institutions specialized in postgraduate studies, telematic universities. In addition, there are other types of educational institutions, the non-university sector, that covered traditionally art but it has since expanded into other areas such as the interpreting and translating professions or language mediation, as well as psychotherapy at postgraduate institutes/schools, courses at military academies, higher technical education and training as well as vocational post-secondary professional education and training by the Regions.

Politecnico di Milano

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The highest-ranked Italian university at joint 183rd in the world, Politecnico di Milano ranks particularly well for its art and engineering courses, with places in the top 20 of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 for art and design (10th), civil and structural engineering (14th), architecture (15th), and mechanical engineering (18th). Notable alumni of Politecnico di Milano include celebrated Italian chemist Giulio Natta, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 for his work in high polymers.

Università di Bologna

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Not far behind is Università di Bologna (UNIBO), at 208th. UNIBO lays claim to being one of the very first universities established, although the actual date of its founding is uncertain. If the name sounds familiar, that may be due to Italy’s continued leadership in higher education; the University of Bologna gives its name to the Bologna Process, the ongoing project to make academic systems and qualifications more compatible across Europe.

Sapienza - Università di Roma

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Ranked joint 223rd in the world, Sapienza - Università di Roma is another of the world’s oldest universities, founded in 1303. Sapienza is one of the largest European universities, with a large student population (110,000) of which around 6,000 are from outside Italy. It counts six Nobel laureates among its alumni and faculty members, including particle physicist and inventor Carlo Rubbia.

Politecnico di Torino

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Politecnico di Torino is ranked 305th in the world in 2016-17, and is Italy’s oldest polytechnic university, established in 1859. As you can imagine, it ranks particularly well for technical subjects, and is in the top 50 of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016 for civil and structural engineering, electrical engineering, and architecture.

Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD)

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Ranked joint 338th in 2016-17, Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD) was founded back in 1222 and now has around 61,000 students enrolled in 32 departments. UNIPD houses the oldest surviving permanent anatomical theater in Europe, dating back to 1595, and has taught the likes of Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei