Italy Padova

University of Padua

The University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova) is one of the oldest universities in the world, founded in 1222 by scholars and masters who left Bologna in search of greater academic freedom. Its motto, Universa Universis Patavina Libertas, records that… The University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova) is one of the oldest universities in the world, founded in 1222 by scholars and masters who left Bologna in search of greater academic freedom. Its motto, Universa Universis Patavina Libertas, records that origin. Galileo Galilei taught mathematics here from 1592 to 1610, the world's first permanent anatomical theatre was built in the Palazzo Bo in 1594, and in 1678 Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman anywhere to receive a university degree. Today Padua is a comprehensive public research university with thirty-two departments and around 70,000 students, spread across the historic centre of Padua and campuses at Agripolis in Legnaro, Vicenza, Treviso, Rovigo and Chioggia. It is among the strongest Italian universities for research output, with recognised work in physics and astronomy, medicine and molecular medicine, agricultural and veterinary sciences, psychology, engineering and the humanities, and it hosts a large share of the country's nationally funded Departments of Excellence.