One of the focal points of the university is to valorize the international dimension and the internationalization of master courses with double degrees or in foreign language.

The most traditional international program is student mobility within Erasmus program, that has allowed the European students to spend periods of study and apprenticeship in a foreign university since 1987, surely an essential experience according to the judgment of the students. The participant students put in common their experiences and draw a patrimony of values that they bring with themselves for the whole life.

Another area of the internationalization concerns the increase of the double degrees, European or extra-European, recognized by the countries that release the qualification.

A third area is that of the international cooperation with foreign partners to promote the development, through projects whose end is not only scientific or didactic but that can have a concrete impact on the territory through didactic and research initiatives.

The University of Palermo & Research Activities

The University of Palermo (UNIPA) is a consolidated cultural, scientific and teaching presence in central-western Sicily. Its 5 Schools and 20 Departments cover the most important domains of contemporary scientific and technological knowledge.

About 122 courses (first and second cycle) are yearly offered as well as 44 master and specialization and 23 PhD courses, targeted to the training of specific professional figures, often in cooperation with external institutions and companies - a galaxy which attracted 11,085 first-year students in 2013/2014 academic year. The University General Hospital is a local health corporation that works in synergy with the Faculty of Medicine. It provides beds, day-hospital beds, and a first-aid service.

UNIPA is also present in Agrigento, Caltanissetta e Trapani.

There is a closed link between UNIPA and the labor market: 3rd students of 1st cycle degree courses and 2nd year students of the 2nd cycle experience practice periods within public or private companies and agencies.

Research activities

Palermo University has 20 Departments, where researchers study every day to find new solution to the questions posed by nature, science and society. From Information Technology to Biology, from Mathematics to Medicine, to Social Sciences and Preservation of Cultural Heritage, the University works to make its contribution of innovation and progress to the international scientific community and the world of production.

In the laboratories – many of which are open to the local community – the first step of collaboration between researchers in the academic world and in the business world are taken, basic and applied research is carried out, and young brains are given the chance to turn their intuitions to good account. Here scientific research finds its application in robotics, pharmaceutical industry, ecology, and medical diagnostics. Successful technological transfer implies the full synergy of innovative technologies, scientific expertise, production systems and processes. Actually, it is necessary to implement a full-fledged system including the “know-how”, production processes, goods, services and organizational and operational skills.

In order to contribute to achieve this goal, the University of Palermo has set up a network of University labs (UniNetLab) for testing and transferring new technologies to SMEs.

UniNetLab is the natural evolution of single consolidation actions of some University labs. It aims at the technological innovation of enterprises for the economic recovery of Southern Italy. The University labs integrated system has been conceived to create synergies among the different types of expertise available. It is also meant to be a centre of reference for other activities of technological transfer of the Universities and research entities operating in the region, in view of using financial resources better and reaching the necessary critical mass of operators in the sector.

In operational terms, UniNetLab ensures the scientific and administrative coordination among the various research units. Nevertheless, each unit is autonomous as to the relations with enterprises which, therefore, can directly apply to the single facilities whose expertise they are interested in.

Historical Profile

In 1806 Ferdinand III of Bourbon, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies, transformed the Palermo Academy of Studies into a university, granting it the power to bestow degrees in Theology, Medicine, Law, and Arts – a conquest the city had awaited for centuries. The seal on the decree bears the stamp that has become the present-day university’s institutional logo: the Trinacria flanked by Minerva, representing the arts, and by Mercury, representing sciences. But the events that led to the foundation of the university go back much further in time.

In 1550 the Jesuit College was created, which was destined to achieve a role of absolute dominance in the reality of the times. Having constructed with extreme rapidity the imposing Collegio Massimo, now the seat of the Regional Library, which proved to be second only to that in Munich, the Jesuits obtained from the Pope the right to bestow degrees in Philosophy and Theology.

A new page opened on the first of December 1767, when the Jesuits were expelled from the Bourbon Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and all their goods, including libraries, were confiscated. On 31 July 1778 the King set up a Deputation, which he charged with the task of reorganizing the Study in Palermo. The regulations of the new Academy were characterized by the fact that in addition to the teaching “of words”, the instruction “of things” was introduced, e.g. geometry, economics, agriculture, and commerce. This was the embryo of the future university.

The Academy awarded the “baccalaureate” at the end of two years’ study, the “licence” after the third year, and finally the degree on termination of the course of study, which lasted from three to five years. The Palermo Study achieved a number of successes, including the creation in 1790 of the Botanical Garden and the foundation of an Astronomical Observatory, with the result that Sicily was able to find its place in the circuit of European culture, making marked progress in higher education. The Academy’s first official set of regulations was approved in 1783, when it was allotted its own funds and given full didactic, administrative and disciplinary autonomy.

The constitution in Palermo of a full-scale University was ordained by royal despatch dated 3 November 1805, and the diploma signed by King Ferdinand III of Bourbon, which gave the Academy the title of Royal University of Studies, arrived on 12 January 1806.

UNIPA’s great transformation came in 1860, when Garibaldi arrived on the scene. The present-day non-religious form of University was thus created, thanks to the Pro-Dictator Mordini, who also forged links with the European higher education system – this eventually led to the foundation of the School of Engineers and Architects.

This was the beginning of the process by which UNIPA became what it is today, a mega-university with twelve faculties distributed in various manner throughout the territory, with University Poles in other central-western provinces of Sicily.