University of Bolzano
The Libera Università di Bolzano (UNIBZ) is a young university founded in 1997 as a multilingual, internationally oriented institution. It is a non-state funded public university located at the crossroads between the Italian and the German cultural and economic worlds. Multilingualism and internationality are its main characteristics as shown by the composition of its academic staff (32% of tenured professors and researchers are of international origin) and its exchange programmes with about 150 partner universities all over the world. This international outlook is a driver of the research activity carried out at UNIBZ to address contemporary challenges while also meeting local interests. In fact, besides teaching and research, another fundamental objective of UNIBZ is to contribute to local development fostering knowledge through collaborations with public institutions and private organisations.
UNIBZ is composed of five faculties (Economics and Management, Computer Science, Education, Design and Art, Science and Technology) and 2 Competence Centres with specific research focuses.
Despite its recent foundation, UNIBZ in the past few years has already established itself as an important research institution, both in Italy and abroad. In 2019, for the third time in a row, UNIBZ was placed first among the small non state Italian universities (Censis) and 12th out of 43 Italian universities. At international level (Times Higher Education World University Rankings) it ranked in the band 351-400 out of 1258 institutions worldwide.
UNIBZ takes part in this project through the Faculty of Education, located in Bressanone, one of the three university’s campuses. The Faculty of Education counts more than 1400 students (out of 4,000 students at the whole university) and about 70 research and teaching staff.
The Faculty relies on a large network of collaborations with national and international organisations and universities. At local level it has developed a large network of collaborations with regional educational authorities, schools, museums network, libraries, media libraries and cultural associations. As far as teaching is concerned, the Faculty of Education offers three bachelor degrees, four master courses and a PhD programme. A series of post-graduate courses enriches the training opportunities to further develop and qualify teachers’ competences. The Faculty offers high quality didactic programmes based on the interplay among research, teaching and fieldwork, and on the collaboration with regional institutions working on education related issues such as professional training, communication and culture, social services and welfare. Moreover, teaching and learning are enhanced with a well-equipped library, excellent IT services and EduSpaces, namely dedicated laboratories for innovative educational activities. These facilities offer students different opportunities to connect their theoretical knowledge with the educational challenges related to their future occupation. The research activity of the Faculty of Education is carried out by an interdisciplinary academic team focused in seven main research-areas: Permanent education; Innovative and inclusive education; Psychology and wellbeing promotion in educational contexts; Language and Multilingualism in South Tyrol; Aesthetic experience and communication; Educational Contexts, disciplines and their teaching in the nursery and primary school; Socio Cultural Worlds: Institutions, Welfare, Social Professions, Environment and Population.