Italy Siena

University of Siena

The University of Siena (Università degli Studi di Siena) is one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1240 as the Studium Senense and granted imperial and papal recognition in the following centuries. It is deeply embedded in the medieval city,… The University of Siena (Università degli Studi di Siena) is one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1240 as the Studium Senense and granted imperial and papal recognition in the following centuries. It is deeply embedded in the medieval city, whose historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the university and the city's students have long been part of the same civic fabric. Siena has around 20,000 students and fifteen departments, teaching medicine, biotechnology, pharmacy, law, economics, political science, the humanities and the natural sciences, with a further campus at Arezzo and the University for Foreigners of Siena as a separate neighbour institution. Its research reputation rests especially on vaccine research and immunology — the city is a long-standing centre of the Italian vaccine industry — alongside biotechnology, law, economics and the study of art history and cultural heritage.