Established in 14th century by Pope Clement VI, the University of Pisa is one of the oldest public educational institutions in Italy and among the 20 oldest surviving universities around the world.
The university has been recognised for its research centres internationally and prides itself on being the first university to launch a computer science degree in Italy. Its extensive range of undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses is taught primarily in Italian.
Students can explore a variety of subjects including law, cultural studies, engineering, medicine and business administration - taught in twenty departments. The academic institution also includes 17 libraries and 13 museums.
The university has an arrangement to share facilities and exchange academics with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, which together form a consortium of higher educations institutions in the town, called the Pisa University System.
The university has also built strong ties with prestigious Pisan Institutes of the National Board of Research and the growing information technology industry, which flourished in Tuscany over recent decades.
Located in a city with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, the University of Pisa offers an enjoyable campus life experience, which goes beyond visiting the famous leaning tower in Pisa. Students can immerse themselves in Pisa’s cultural life by exploring various restaurants and bars in the area, but also by attending museums and theatres.
Notable figures connected with the University of Pisa include the father of modern physics Galileo Galilei, who studied and later taught mathematics, and the Nobel Prize-winners in physics Enrico Fermi and Carlo Rubia.
The University of Pisa is one of the most renowed educational institutions in Italy boasting 20 departments, with high level research centres in the sectors of agriculture, physics, computer science, engineering, medicine and veterinary medicine. Furthermore the University has close relations with the Pisan Institutes of the National Board of Research, with many cultural institutions of national and international importance, and with industry, especially that of information technology, which went through a phase of rapid expansion in Pisa during the nineteen sixties and seventies. Although formally founded in 1343, there are records to indicate that the University of Pisa has been active since the 11th century. Famous alumni of the university include Galileo Galilei, the founder of modern science, and the Nobel prize winners Enrico Fermi and Carlo Rubbia, as well as such famous personalities as the poets Giosuè Carducci (he too a Nobel prize winner) and Giovanni Pascoli; the physicist Antonio Pacinotti; the former President of the Republic of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi; the former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, the film directors Mario Monicelli, and Paolo and Vittorio Taviani; the writer Antonio Tabucchi, the journalist Tiziano Terzani and the tenor Andrea Bocelli.