The Università della Svizzera italiana (USI, literally University of Italian Switzerland), sometimes referred to as the University of Lugano in English-speaking contexts, is a public Swiss university established in 1995, with campuses in Lugano, Mendrisio and Bellinzona (Canton Ticino, Switzerland). USI is the only university in Switzerland where the official language is Italian, but many of its programs are in English.
Five of the university’s faculties (communication, culture and society; economics; informatics; theology and biomedical sciences) are located at the Lugano campus, while the Academy of Architecture is at the Mendrisio campus. Two affiliated institutions, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine and the Institute of Oncology Research, are located in Bellinzona.
In 2020, USI was ranked 273 in the 2020–2021 QS World University Rankings.[4] In 2021, it climbed to rank 240. In other university rankings, USI ranked 54th in the 2020–2021 “Young University Rankings” of Times Higher Education World University Rankings, where universities with less than 50 years of activity are ranked.
USI adheres to the education system established with the Bologna Process, offering three-year undergraduate programmes (Bachelor) and two-year graduate programmes (Master). In addition, USI organises a selection of doctoral schools and, in the field of continuing education, a number of Executive Master programmes.
Bachelor study curricula are offered in five disciplines: Architecture, Communication Sciences, Economics, Informatics and Italian Language, Literature and Civilisation.
Twenty three Master study curricula are offered in fields of specialisation related to the research institutes of the USI Faculties: Architecture, Italian Literature, Finance, Management, Political Economics, Philosophy, International Policies, Health Communication and Management, Corporate Communication, Marketing, International Tourism, Financial Communication, Public Management, Computational Science, Embedded and Cyberphysical Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Software and Data Engineering, and Financial Technology and Computing.
Doctoral schools are at the heart of research conducted at USI and are offered in Finance, Communication Sciences, Philosophy, Informatics, Architecture, Economics, Immunology, Drug design, and Cancer Biology and Oncology.