University of Bologna


The University of Bologna is a research university in Bologna, Italy.
Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students, it is the oldest university in the world, as well as one of the leading academic institutions in Italy and Europe. It is one of the most prestigious Italian universities, commonly ranking in the first places of national rankings.
It was the first place of study to use the term universitas for the corporations of students and masters, which came to define the institution located in Bologna.
The university's emblem carries the motto Alma mater studiorum and the date A.D. 1088, and it has about 86,500 students in its 11 schools.
It has campuses in Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna and Rimini and a branch center abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It also has a school of excellence named Collegio Superiore di Bologna. An associate publisher of the University of Bologna is the Bononia University Press.

History

The date of the University of Bologna's founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088. The university was granted a charter by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1158, but in the 19th century, a committee of historians led by Giosuè Carducci traced the founding of the University back to 1088, which would make it the oldest continuously-operating university in the world. However, the development of the institution at Bologna into a university was a gradual process. Paul Grendler writes that “it is not likely that enough instruction and organization existed to merit the term university before the 1150s, and it might not have happened before the 1180s.”
The university arose around mutual aid societies of foreign students called "nations" for protection against city laws which imposed collective punishment on foreigners for the crimes and debts of their countrymen. These students then hired scholars from the city's pre-existing lay and ecclesiastical schools to teach them subjects such as liberal arts, notarial law, theology, and ars dictaminis. The lectures were given in informal schools called scholae. In time the various universitates scholarium decided to form a larger association, or Studium—thus, the university. The Studium grew to have a strong position of collective bargaining with the city, since by then it derived significant revenue through visiting foreign students, who would depart if they were not well treated. The foreign students in Bologna received greater rights, and collective punishment was ended. There was also collective bargaining with the scholars who served as professors at the university. By the initiation or threat of a student strike, the students could enforce their demands as to the content of courses and the pay professors would receive. University professors were hired, fired, and had their pay determined by an elected council of two representatives from every student "nation" which governed the institution, with the most important decisions requiring a majority vote from all the students to ratify. The professors could also be fined if they failed to finish classes on time, or complete course material by the end of the semester. A student committee, the "Denouncers of Professors", kept tabs on them and reported any misbehavior. Professors themselves were not powerless, however, forming collegia doctorum in each faculty, and securing the rights to set examination fees and degree requirements. Eventually, the city ended this arrangement, paying professors from tax revenues and making it a chartered public university.
The university is historically notable for its teaching of canon and civil law; indeed, it was set up in large part with the aim of studying the Digest, a central text in Roman law, which had been rediscovered in Italy in 1070, and the university was central in the development of medieval Roman law. Until modern times, the only degree granted at that university was the doctorate.
In 1477, when Pope Sixtus IV issued a papal bull, authorizing the creation of Uppsala University in Sweden, the bull specified that the new university would have the same freedoms and privileges as the University of Bologna - a highly desirable situation for the Swedish scholars. This included the right of Uppsala to establish the four traditional faculties of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy, and to award the bachelor's, master's, licentiate, and doctoral degrees.

Organization

Higher education processes are being harmonised across the European Community. Nowadays the university offers 101 different "Laurea" or "Laurea breve" first-level degrees, followed by 108 "Laurea specialistica" or "Laurea magistrale" second-level degrees. However, other 11 courses have maintained preceding rules of "Laurea specialistica a ciclo unico" or "Laurea magistrale a ciclo unico", with only one cycle of study of five years, except for medicine and dentistry which requires six years of courses. After the "Laurea" one may attain 1st level Master. After second-level degrees are attained, one may proceed to 2nd level Master, specialisation schools, or doctorates of research.
The 11 Schools are:
The university is structured in 33 departments, organized by homogeneous research domains that integrate activities related to one or more faculty. A new department of Latin history was added in 2015.
The 33 departments are:

Il Mulino

In the early 1950s, some students of the University of Bologna were among the founders of the review "il Mulino". On 25 April 1951 the first issue of the review was published in Bologna. In a short time, "il Mulino" became one of the most interesting reference points in Italy for the political and cultural debate, and established important editorial relationships in Italy and abroad. Editorial activities evolved along with the review. In 1954, the il Mulino publishing house was founded, which today represents one of the most relevant Italian publishers. In addition to this were initiated research projects, that eventually led, in 1964, to the establishment of the Istituto Carlo Cattaneo.

Collegio Superiore

The Collegio Superiore is an excellence institution inside the University of Bologna, aimed at promoting students' merit through dedicated learning programmes.
The institution was founded in 1998 as Collegio d'Eccellenza. Together with the Institute for Advanced Study it is part of the Institute for Higher Study.
The Collegio Superiore offers an additional educational path to students enrolled in a degree programme at the University of Bologna, providing specialized courses as part of an interdisciplinary framework.
All students of the Collegio Superiore are granted a full-ride scholarship and additional benefits such as the assistance of a personal tutor and free accommodation at the Residence for Higher Study. In order to remain members of the Collegio Superiore students are required to maintain high marks in both their degree programme and the additional courses.
Beatrice Fraboni, professor of Physics of Matter, has been head of Collegio Superiore since 2019.

Notable people

''Alumni''

See: Serafino Mazzetti, Repertorio di tutti I professori antichi e moderni della famosa Università...di Bologna.
The 2021 QS World University Rankings ranked the University of Bologna 160th in the world, as well as 69th with reference to academic reputation. In another measurement by the same company, it was positioned among the world's top 100 universities for graduate employability.
In the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, it claimed the 168th place globally.
In the THE Impact Rankings of the same year, measuring the universities' commitment to sustainable development in compliance with the UN 2030 Agenda, Bologna took 1st place in Europe and 6th in the world..
Nationally, in 2020 Bologna topped Italy's main ranking of large public universities for the eleventh year in a row, produced by the Italian Center for Social Investment Studies.

Points of interest

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