University of Palermo

On January 12th, 1806, Ferdinand III of Bourbon founded the University - stemming from the Panormic Academy -  by  granting it the power to issue degrees in theology, medicine, law and philosophy: a conquest that the city had been waiting for centuries. With Sicily annexed to the Savoy kingdom, the University became entirely secular, while the School for Engineering and Architecture was established. 

The University boasts a varied educational offer in a number of disciplines spanning from Humanities to STE(A)M and Medicine. Internationalization plays a key role in the institution’s strategic plan and impacts on research and education at the same time. Implementing measures in the field of education regard the increase in the number of courses delivered in EU languages other than Italian; the commitment to an enlarged number of Joint Master available; a varied range of mobility options (individual, collective, intra-EU, extra-EU, targeted at students and staff at the same time); the alignment with Lisbon acquis as regards recognition procedures. The course catalogue is online in Italian and English. 

Research is thriving across disciplines, raising more than EUR 20 million each year from the European Commission, the National and Regional Governments. During the 2014-2020 period, the University was granted funds for the following number of projects: 48 Horizon2020; 7 joint EU-national initiatives; 9 DG Just and Home; 1 Health; 126 among research-targeted domestic funds (e.g., PRIN and SIR); 22 Territorial Cooperation; 12 Life+; 42 ERDF. The Italian Ministry of University and Research awarded the Department of Law with the label “Excellent Department” and with more than EUR 8 million funding aimed at the development of five-year research and education projects (2018-2022). 

To fulfill its third mission, the University has set up an Industrial Liaison Office, launched a network of University labs (ATEN Center) for testing and transferring new technologies to SMEs, founded a university business incubator and started up a Contaminaton Lab. The business incubator located within the University Campus of Palermo, managed by Consorzio ARCA (a public-private partnership) boosts the growth and success of innovative business ideas by providing interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education training packages, helping generate profitable start-ups, supporting academic spin-off companies and assisting students in their participation in business plan competitions joined by the University.