Year of establishment: 1361
The University of Pavia is a multi-disciplinary university offering a wide range of high academic standard Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees. With a strong reputation for research, Pavia is based on a unique Italian college system.
The University of Pavia is one of the world’s oldest academic institutions. It was founded in 1361 and until the 20th century it was the only university in the Milan area and the region of Lombardy. Pavia was the capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards for over two centuries and has been a city-campus since its foundation. Even today it offers its 24,000 students an experience unique in Italy and rare in Europe and students can study at 20 University colleges that are largely independent from the administrative structure of the University.
The University of Pavia covers all subject areas and is composed of 18 Departments offering study programmes at all levels, from Bachelor’s degrees to Doctorate programmes. Pavia, like Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, has a unique College system in Italy, dating back to the 16th century. Each of Pavia’s 20 colleges, which in total host approximately 2.000 students, has its own particular history and opportunities to offer, including access to many study abroad programmes and sporting activities.
The Institute for Advanced Study (IUSS) offers extra courses to the best performing students from our colleges. These advanced-level programmes for high achievers are organised by theme into four different academic areas: Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Science & Technology and Biomedical Sciences. Students who successfully complete their studies at IUSS obtain an additional Diploma, alongside their university degree. College life aims at creating an open community where academic achievements, traditional events, parties and sporting rivalries all play a role.
In college students can also build their first professional network. Access to colleges is based on merit criteria and a parental-income based fee system. Today, Pavia can count on 4 merit based colleges; 12 public colleges; and 4 private colleges. The University of Pavia was originally created around schools of law and humanities, soon followed by medicine. Over the centuries, the range of courses on offer has expanded to the natural sciences, pure sciences, engineering, political sciences and pharmacology and, more recently, to psychology, communication and sports sciences thereby confirming Pavia’s vocation as a multidisciplinary university.
The University of Pavia offers 83 bachelors and masters courses; with its 7 research centres and its 17 PhD programmes, is an active promoter of research with the world’s most prestigious academic institutions, favouring the expansion of links with local and global industry. The University of Pavia also combines treatment and research in three leading university hospitals and, with other important institutions, made Pavia a modern technological centre for advanced research on the reduction of seismic risk (EUCENTRE), cancer treatment (CNAO), nuclear energy (LENA).
