History, Affiliations and Rankings
The University of Pavia is one of the oldest universities in Europe, established in 825 in Italy. This institution, mainly devoted to law studies, was then chosen as the main education centre for northern Italy. Enlarged and renovated by the Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, it became the University of the Duchy, officially established as a Studium Generale by Emperor Charles IV in 1361. The University participates in international university networks such as EC2U and Coimbra Group, to offer its students more and more opportunities for growth and knowledge. The university is also affiliated with Policlinico San Matteo, where every year, hundreds of medical students from the university perform clinical rotations during their clinical years. QS World University Ranking 2022 places the university at #561-570. THE Rankings 2022 ranks at #351-400.
Infrastructure, Campuses and Courses
The City of Pavia is essentially a city campus, with buildings all over the city. The research university offers a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching organized in 18 departments and has study programmes at all levels: Bachelor’s degrees, single-cycle Masters degrees, research degrees, speciality schools and level I and II Masters degrees, including 8 English programs. The University offers 80+ undergraduate programs, 40+ graduate programs and about 20 doctoral programs. Research is carried out in departments, institutes, clinics, centres, and laboratories in close association with public and private institutions, enterprises and companies. The University of Pavia has a “Pavia System”, which is characterized by 20 colleges and residences where thousands of students can live, study and play sports. The oldest residences, named Collegio Borromeo and Collegio Ghislieri, were built in the 16th century; more recently other colleges for male and female students were founded through both public and private initiatives. The university operates multiple cultural and scientific museums, including the University History Museum, a botanical garden, research centres, university libraries and a university press.
Accomplishments and Alumni
The certified quality of its mobility programs makes the University of Pavia a real international campus, offering training courses abroad focused on sustainability and digitalization. Internationalization is one of the core concepts of the University of Pavia, with an increasing presence in the international higher education arena. Pavia participates in more than 400 international agreements with universities all over the world, and it actively promotes research in collaboration with the world’s most prestigious academic institutions. Starting from 2020, the University of Pavia is officially part of the “European Campus of City-Universities” – EC2U, a network of 7 historical universities where students will be free to move between for study, research and internship purposes. The majority of University of Pavia students have the opportunity to study abroad during their university careers. Some of the top alumni include Camillo Golgi (Italian Pathologist & Biologist known for his work on the Central Nervous System), Cesare Beccaria (Lombard criminologist, jurist, philosopher, and politician), Gerolamo Cardano (Italian Polymath), Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (Italian Geneticist), and Lorenzo Valla (Renaissance Humanist, Rherotican, Educator, Scholar, Priest),
Student Diversity and Visiting Companies
The University of Pavia enjoys a strong tradition of international student and teacher exchanges: bilateral agreements involve, among others, the historical universities of Coimbra, and many universities in Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean area, the United States of America, China, Japan and many other countries. About 1,500 students who enter the university every year are international students. The Career Service promotes placement events and initiatives in collaboration with Companies and offers individual services to support the transition into the job market for the University of Pavia's new graduates. Most of the online tools and all the individual services are offered only in Italian. The services are offered in collaboration with AlmaLaurea, the University's career day "Open Doors to Business" becomes completely virtual and turns into the Virtual Career Fair from 28 April to 21 May 2021. The Portal has a 96% employment guarantee after graduation.
