The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (
Italian: Libera Università di Bolzano,
German: Freie Universität Bozen,
Ladin: Università Liedia de Bulsan) is a university primarily located in
Bolzano,
South Tyrol,
Italy. It was founded on 31 October 1997 and is organized into five faculties with courses taught in German, Italian, and English.
Campus
The university has three campuses: in
Bolzano,
Brixen and
Bruneck. The buildings in Bolzano were designed by the architects Matthias Bischoff and Roberto Azzola[2] of
Zürich[3] and those in Brixen by Regina Kohlmeyer and Jens Oberst from
Stuttgart. The latter won the 9th architecture prize of the city of
Oderzo in 2005.[4]
Rectors
Previous rectors of the university were Luxembourg
economist Alfred Steinherr (1998 - 2003), Swiss
linguist Rita Franceschini (2004 - 2008), and German
sociologist Walter Lorenz (2008 - 2016).[5] Italian
engineer Paolo Lugli has been the rector since 2017.
Faculty of Economics and Management
The Faculty of Economics and Management is based in
Bolzano and
Bruneck. It offers four bachelor's, five master's, and three PhD degree programs:[6]
Bachelor in Economics and Management
Bachelor in Economics, Politics and Ethics
Bachelor in Informatics and Management of Digital Business
Bachelor in Tourism, Sport and Event Management
Master in Accounting and Finance
Master in Data Analytics for Economics and Management
Since 2011, there has been a multidisciplinary
Studium Generale course, which offers a wide range of
lectures in fields of general interest.[10]
Research
A total of 917 projects of
basic and
applied research have been conducted within the university since 1998.[11]
The university has scientific and technological laboratories at each of its sites, at the
NOI Techpark, a local technological and innovation hub, and at the
Versuchszentrum Laimburg, an
agronomy research institute.
Rankings
The 2021 edition of
THE World University Rankings placed the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in the group between rank 401-500 worldwide. [12]
Library
According to library ranking system issued by German library networks (BIX project) in 2009, this university has the second best
library amongst German-speaking states (
Germany,
Switzerland,
Austria and
South Tyrol in
Italy).[13]
Students activities
The members of the
student advisory board are elected every two years, however, between two elections a petition for the representative could be announced. Student representative are members of the University Council, the Academic Senate, the Faculty Council, the Course Council, the Equal Opportunities Committee and the Didactic Joint Committee.
The
South Tyrolean Student association is the most important South Tyrolean association for students. Beside the head office in Bolzano there are seven branch offices in Austria and Italy. The sh.asus[14] was founded in 1955 as a non-profit association. It represents South Tyrolean students studying abroad and students in South Tyrol.
The M.U.A., Movimento Universitario Altoatesino, is an association which has been recognized by the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano and has been founded in the 1993. Its principal purposes are "to defend and ease the right to study of the students and the working students of the university" and "to organize conferences, debatings, conventions, cultural, social and university seminar". The association operates in Bolzano and promotes the project WEBZ, "the first web-tv of South-Tyrol made by youngs for youngs."
Kikero is a cultural association, which has been founded in 2000 and organizes activities such as the debating club and the movie nights. Furthermore, Kikero is also responsible for the university magazine "Kflyer".
SCUB,
Sports Club University Bozen-Bolzano, is the students' association that mainly deals with sports activities and that organizes every year the SNOWDAYS, Europe's biggest wintersport event for students from all over Italy and the EU. SCUB comprises also the UniParty team, which is in charge of organizing university parties for unibz students.
A further
student association is the Bozen – Bolzano local committee
AIESEC, which organizes international exchange programmes to permit university students to get in touch with the working world.
PRO – Students for Business also encourages students to connect with the working environment through the enhancement of economic and business activities.
The university also has a choir called
UnibzVoices, conducted by Prof. Johann Van der Sandt, who teaches "Music and Communication" at the Brixen College of Education.
The most recent student association is the
Alumni Club that comprises graduates of the Free University of Bozen–Bolzano.
Bibliography
Hans Karl Peterlini & Hannes Obermair (eds), Universitas Est. Essays and documents on the history of education in Tyrol/South-Tyrol, 2 Vol.[15] (Bozen-Bolzano University Press, Raetia Verlag, Bozen/Bolzano 2008),
ISBN978-88-7283-316-2
Klaus Kempf, Franz Berger, The Library as a Service Point. The Case of the Bozen University Library: Planning, Building, Financing, in "LIBER Quarterly", 10, 2000, pp. 108–116.[16] (
Download PDF 52 KB)
Universitätsreden an der Freien Universität Bozen / Discorsi d'ateneo alla Libera Università di Bolzano / Public Talks at the Free University of Bozen, 6 voll., Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano University Press, 2005-ss. ISBN (ISSN) 2494716-7
^Christine Plieger-De Biasi, Thomas Simma, Freie Universität Bozen – Libera Universita di Bolzano – Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. The Architecture Competition for the Main Site, Vienna-Bolzano, Folio, 1998.
ISBN978-3-85256-105-9