Italy Napoli

University of Naples L'Orientale

The University of Naples L'Orientale (Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale) is the oldest school of Sinology and Oriental studies in Europe, founded in 1732 as the Collegio dei Cinesi by Matteo Ripa, a missionary who had served at the imperial court… The University of Naples L'Orientale (Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale) is the oldest school of Sinology and Oriental studies in Europe, founded in 1732 as the Collegio dei Cinesi by Matteo Ripa, a missionary who had served at the imperial court in Beijing and returned with four Chinese students. It became a state institution in the nineteenth century and a university in 1888. L'Orientale specialises in languages, cultures and societies, teaching around 10,000 students in three departments: Asian, African and Mediterranean studies; literary, linguistic and comparative studies; and human and social sciences. It teaches an exceptionally wide range of languages, from Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew and Persian to the languages of Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, and its research covers area studies, archaeology and epigraphy of the ancient Near East, linguistics, migration and international relations.