Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Sapienza University of Rome is a public, autonomous and free university, involved in the development of society through research, higher level of education and international cooperation.

Professor Luigi Frati is its Rector since November 2008. He has started a great innovation process envisaging full tax exemption for outstanding students, amelioration of the academic and administrative structures, and reorganisation of faculties and departments.

Sapienza was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII. With over 700 years of history, it is the first university in Rome and the largest in Europe: a city within a city, 145.000 students, over 4.500 professors, and almost 5.000 people working as administrative and technical staff. Over 30.000 out of the 145.000 enrolled students come from all around Italy, over 7.000 are regularly enrolled international students. Incoming and outgoing Erasmus students are about 2.000 per year. Sapienza is implementing ICT services for students, such as online enrolment, personal university e-mail address and wireless hotspots around the campus. It has 116 libraries and 21 museums as well as efficient student services such as Ciao (Information, welcoming and counselling centre), SoRT (Counselling and tutorship services) and assistance for disabled students, and a Welcome office for international students.

Sapienza has a wide academic offer including over 300 degree programmes and 250 one or two year professional courses.The complete academic offer
for the academic year 2011-2012 is available, only in Italian.

There are also more than 150 PhD programmes available, which include almost all major fields of knowledge. Sapienza also has an academic offer in English, above all Master and professional courses.

Sapienza plans and carries out as well important scientific research in almost all disciplines, achieving high-standard results both on a national and on an international level, thanks of the work of its 13 - 11 faculties, 67 departments, and 30 centres dedicated to scientific research as well as several laboratories spread in the main national scientific research centres. The first University in Rome is proud to have had many famous scholars among his students, such as the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, and, within the field of Physics, the members of the so called ‘Via Panisperna Group’, including the scientists Enrico Fermi, Edoardo Amaldi and Emilio Segrè, who gave a crucial contribution, and left an important heritage in subjects like Quantum Physics, Physics of Disordered Systems and Astrophysics.