BOLOGNA UNIVERSITY

Bologna University has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted among the UNIVERSITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

	FOUNDATION
Year	1088 A.D.
City	Bologna
Founder	Students
Where	Bologna 'Free Town' (Reich Empire)
Originary subjects	arts , law and ius publicum , theology

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	NOWADAYS
State	Italy
Name	University of Bologna (Università degli Studi di Bologna - Alma Mater Studiorum)
Seates	Bologna city: Palazzo Poggi , Archiginnasio Palace
Degree programs	every scientific and humanities disciplines
Library	Bologna University Library (BUB) , Historical Archive , University Museum System
Collegium / Campuses	Royal Spanish, Bologna, Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna, Rimini , Brussels, Shangai
Alumni	Almae Matris Alumni Association
Famous teachers	Irnerius , Accursius, Baldus de Ubaldi , Giovanni da Legnano, Ulisse Aldrovandi, Laura Bassi, Umberto Eco
Famous scholars	monk Gratian, Pope Gregory XIII, Petrarch, Nicolaus Copernicus, Giosuè Carducci
Awards	Bologna Studium is enlisted in the most important university rankings

Bologna University is considered the oldest one in Europe (first in Western), became along the history of European integration a fundamental keystone and a reference point for European culture. Then 9 centuries of Alma Mater Studiorum history, conventionally referred to the moment when Bologna University was founded, established independently by the scholars and arosed and stood out as a private school through the bustling Middle Age and the eclectic Renaissance epoch. Thanks to its atheneum, Bologna quickly became known as 'La Dotta' (trad.: the Learned) and a rich and powerful medieval civitas ('free town' of the Reich Empire), capable of attracting and accommodating hundreds of wealthy young people, who brought with them not only books and servants but also a substantial amount of money: indeed, the 2 institutions, the Commune and the University, both born under the guidance of the teacher Irnerius, were completely interwined, under porticoes, in private homes, in monasteries and in city areas rented out as required for lessons and assemblies.

Students attending the innovative Law Schools soon formed mutual support associations, that along times were structured in order to their places of origin (called 'Nationes') until they merged into prestigious supra-regional guilds (called 'Universitates'): it is already clear the influence of that event on the whole history of European integration, especially in XII century A.D. when Bologna University arose as the main european school of Law. At what point that in 1158 A.D. the Emperor Frederick I 'Barbarossa' promulgated the 'Authentica Habita' that recognized to Bologna University as a site for independent study and research free from any power: but it was the epoch of the conflicts between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines and the Reich Emperors and the Popes about their rules and their relations with the 'free cities' in Italy. So they both interpelled the Jurists of the studium to define models usefull for writing the public laws for whole Europe (respectively the ancient 'Roman Ius Publicum' renowed and the new 'Canon Law' imposed by the Roman Church).

That situation changed the history of the Commune of Bologna, passed from the citizenship and university control to the rule of the Visconti family duchies of Milan (during the 'Captivate Avignone' epoch in XIV century A.D.): so the city joined the territories of the Holy See, that strategically founded the Faculty of Theology in 1360 A.D. and took the decision to set up Bologna’s first college for foreign students, the College of Saint Clement of the Spaniards (now Royal Spanish College) specific for students from Spain which was and still is under the Royal patronage of the Spanish Crown. Since then students had lost their autonomy and power, especially when in 1381 A.D. the Commune imposed a new magistracy on them who were in charge of drafting contracts with the teachers, drawing up study plans, choosing the subjects of courses and even appointing the punctator, the person responsible for overseeing the functioning of the Bologna University, a position still nowadays reserved for students. But the originary student’s private Universities were thus being transformed into the Studium of Bologna.

Even the teachers who formed the College of Doctors had to accept the disciplinary measures imposed from the Roman Church State and were subject to them even more, especially when they became public employees paid with the income from trade tariffs. But because of its fame, Bologna University was still able to attract students from all over the world and future popes, cardinals and intellectuals continued to graduate from its law schools, whereas art schools, thanks to the cultural reforms of Renaissance humanism, thrived with new disciplines. In middle XVI century A.D., after the Council of Trent, the popes and their legates managed to impose their influence on Bologna University, so senators on one hand and teachers on the other ended up submitting to their will. When the Archiginnasio Palace was built, the partnership between the two institutions, which up to then had benefited from the Studium being spread out throughout the city, came to an end: for the first time ever, the various Schools were grouped together in a single location, under the watchful eye of Rome, which repealed the student’s rectorship and imposed the profession of catholic faith, thus pushing away many students of other faiths.

When Napoleon I established the Cisalpina Republic at the beginning of XIX century A.D., the Studium was turned into a public University and relocated to the old seat in Palazzo Poggi, around which the city’s new artistic and cultural district was centred. Only after the World Wars of XX century A.D., it was renowed the successful alliance between Bologna University and the City, demonstrated during the celebration of the 9th Centenary of the Studium whose ceremony took place in the city centre as had been a long tradition in the past: in the central main city square of Piazza Maggiore, 430 European rectors along with 372 rectors from all over the world signed the 'Magna Charta Universitatum'. Still today, it is the location for celebrating the independence and freedom of teaching, which have always been the cornerstones of Bologna University, that was once again recognised as the 'mother' of all european universities, namely as Alma Mater Studiorum.

Bologna University is a member of many international schools clubs as the International Association of Universities (IAU), the Coimbra Group, the European University Association (EUA), the Guild of European Research Intensive Universities, the Union of Mediterranean Universities (UniMed), the Scholars at Risk and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). Moreover the atheneum is a member of important academic networks such as the University Coordination for Development Cooperation (CUCS) and the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), to promote and coordinate research projects, training programmes, and awareness initiatives related to international cooperation.

The University of Bologna even invests in academic, research, and social development programmes in cooperation with a well-established network of global partners, focusing on mobility, exchanges and interdisciplinary projects with top institutions around the world, while is part of the great Erasmus system with a Charter for Higher Education and mantaines partnership of excellence between others Europe's most prestigious universities, promoting academic cooperation and the development of innovative programmes called 'Una.Europa'. In occasion of its 9th Centenary, the Magna Charta Universitatum defined the universal fundamental principles of universities like institutional autonomy, academic freedom, the link between teaching and research, and social responsibility: it is an act endorsed by almost 1,000 universities worldwide!

Nowadays Bologna University offers lots of opportunity for PhD programmes, Professional Masters, Specializations in Medical Area and for the Cultural Heritage, over the classic Law Studies, Post-graduate and lifelong learning programmes, Courses designed for those aspiring to teach in pre-school, primary, and secondary schools or for those seeking to update their skills. The Università degli Studi di Bologna has been recently visited from an Evaluation Expert Panel appointed by ANVUR (Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes) that remarked the high quality assurance system of the Studium and of its courses. It is wide the Bologna University Research field where subject specialisation and the integration of the disciplines of knowledge are key to excellence in research, committed to carrying out innovative research initiatives aimed at enhancing its competencies and resources, by promoting interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations not only in Italy, as the example of M.U.R. Department of Excellence and "Una.Resin - Towards a common Una Europa RESearch and INnovation ecosystem".

The Studium publish 'il Mulino', became one of the most interesting reference points for the political and cultural debate, while in 1954 A.D. founded the 'il Mulino publishing house' (Società editrice il Mulino) which today is the most relevant national publisher of historic studies. In addition to this were initiated research projects (focusing mostly on the educational institutions and the political system in Italy), that eventually led to the establishment of the Istituto Carlo Cattaneo in Milan. As witness of the great cultural wealth of Bologna University there is the Archigymnasium Palace, seat of the atheneum since 1563 A.D., where is conserved and admirable the greatest araldic complex in the world with circa 6,000 steudent's crests.

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