Università della Svizzera italiana

Seven reasons for choosing USI:

1. Quality of the Swiss university system
2. International faculty
3. Leading interdisciplinary education
4. Teacher/student ratio 1 to 8
5. Strong ties with the business world
6. Flexible structure, open to the exchange of ideas
7. International, dynamic and welcoming environment

USI is a young and agile university that offers to its students a quality education and an enhancing study experience. International faculty teach students with an interdisciplinary, engaging and interactive approach, leaving room to practical application.

The quality of the study curricula is complemented by USI small size, by its cosmopolitan environment and its informal and dynamic culture.

These elements make USI a hub of opportunity open to the world, where students can engage in direct dialogue with their professors and define their educational path, discover unexpected horizons, and embrace international careers.

Based on the Law that regulates the Università della Svizzera Italiana, USI mission consists of:

• Providing quality education.
• Conducting internationally relevant scientific research.
• Contributing to the development of the region by enabling the transfer of knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship, and cultural and scientific debate in their areas of competence.

In pursuit of its mission, USI draws inspiration from three main values: quality, openness, and responsibility.

The Lugano campus is divided in West and East campus.

• The West campus is home to the Lugano university library, lecture rooms, event theaters, cafeteria, study areas, offices for the academic staff as well as the Student Services. Surrounded by public gardens and just in walking distance to the city center and the lake, this location creates the perfect study environment.
• The East campus (established in 2021) is located right across the river in 5 minutes walking distance from the West campus. Reserved for the Faculty of Informatics as well as the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences it is a hub of shared spaces, a multi-purpose hall, an exhibition space, a canteen, a crèche and sports areas.

The Campus of Mendrisio is allocated to the Academy of Architecture. The campus is located in various administrative, educational, research, study and service buildings in the centre of the small town of Mendrisio, most of them laid out around a very fine urban park.

This arrangement makes the school similar to certain prestigious university campuses that we find in small English cities or the United States.

The Academy’s location in a setting close to (yet outside) the metropolitan areas facilitates student life, while the young people have easy access to the nearby cities.

• Housing Service: looking for an accommodation can be stressful; through the Housing Service you will receive support in this process;
• Careers and Alumni: always ready to suggestions on how to improve your curriculum and support your job research during and after your studies;
• Sports Service: over 50 weekly courses and a Gym at complete disposal of all students;
• International Relations and Mobility: planning a semester abroad is a good way to stand out with your study profile;
• Library: the library offers various multimedia tools and a comprehensive collection of periodicals. It also provides photocopying services and individual spaces for studying with facilitated opening hours.

Live your student life at 360°: if you need a break from your studies you have a wide range of possibilities. The Sport Services organizes each week over 50 indoor and outdoor activities, over 15 student associations allow you to actively participate to the student life as well as more then 120 public events organized directly by the Universities offer an interesting learning opportunity. If you want to improve your language skills during your studies weekly free language courses can help you give a nice extra on your study curriculum.

Lugano is a beautiful city on the Lugano Lake surrounded by mountains. The best way to discover Lugano is by walking or through the public bike (with an attractive price for students). Lugano is the biggest city in the Italian Speaking region of Switzerland and offers a big variety of free time activities (sport, wellness, shopping and hikes), a wide range of cultural activities as well as several free events offered all year round.

The best option for our students is to find a shared apartment (with other students or with locals) or a studio apartment for a bit more privacy: a series of links and suggestions are available at our Housing Service Facebook Page as well as by contacting directly our Housing Service.

Students who come to USI for an exchange Semester are invited to contact the Housing Service directly.

INTERNATIONAL RANKINGS

USI is present in the two leading global academic ranking providers, the Times Higher Education (THE) and the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (QS):

• QS World University Rankings 2022: 240th globally (out of 1300 universities considered). Find out more
• THE Young University Rankings 2021: 37th worldwide among ‘young’ universities (less than 50 years old). Find out more
• THE World University Rankings 2021: Range 251-300 (out of 1527 universities considered). Find out more
• THE World's Best Small Universities 2021: 14th worldwide among small universities. Find out more
• QS Top 50 Under 50 2021: 26th worldwide among ‘young’ universities (less than 50 years old. Find out more

RANKINGS BY SUBJECT AREA

In addition to the global university rankings, USI has made significant progress in subject area rankings:

• THE 2021 Subject Rankings with important results in three of the eleven subject areas, namely Computer Science, Economics and Social Sciences. Find out more.
• Forschungsmonitoring with very high scores in the rankings that measure the impact of research in Economics, especially when referring to the most prestigious academic journals of the field. Find out more.
• Financial Times in which the USI Master in Finance ranks among the top 50 globally in this field. Find out more.