University of Rome Tor Vergata

The university takes its name from the 14th-century farmhouse "Turris Virgatae" that was owned by the Roman noble Annibaldi family, whose remains lie beneath Villa Gentile on campus.

Faculty of Humanities at Tor Vergata University of Rome

The university occupies a 6-square-kilometre (1,483-acre) area outside the Grande Raccordo Anulare highway connection, in the eastern sector of the city.[2] A university Hospital (Tor Vergata Polyclinic), with state-of-the-art medical equipment, is located on campus. Near the university, there are accommodation facilities owned by the regional organization Lazio DiSCo[10] as well as Campus X, a private company. Campus X accommodations, rolled out in October 2010,[11] now consist of over 1300 bed spaces[12] for students and researchers, as well as study rooms, a market, a restaurant, a gym, a music recording studio and many other facilities.[13] Campus X in Tor Vergata, designed and built on the basis of the campus in Berkeley,[11] is at the present time the biggest accommodation facility for students in Italy,[12] with its 15,000-square-metre (4-acre) area.[14] In an effort to reduce environmental pollution as well as emission of greenhouse gases, Campus X facilities rely on both thermal and photovoltaic solar panels that provide up to 70% of hot water and street lighting needed on campus.[15]

On-campus auditorium

The university is divided into six schools: Economics, Engineering, Humanities, Law, Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences, and Medicine and Surgery. There are 18 departments that, combined, offer 31 PhD programmes[17] and 51 Master's degree programmes. The university also offers 55 undergraduate three-year Bachelor's degree programmes and 7 single-cycle degree programmes. Moreover, Tor Vergata University of Rome offers 20 international degree courses taught in English: 3 Bachelor's, 15 Master's and 2 Single-cycle degree courses.[2] The university has taken significant steps in the past years to participate in international projects and to link industries to its research. It also participates in interdisciplinary dialogue with local businesses to provide support to entrepreneurial activities and small businesses.[18]

Academic years (usually referred to as a.y. or a.a.) are typically divided into two semesters, the first starting in mid September and ending in mid January and the second starting in March and ending in mid June, with exam sessions being held between mid January and the end of February for first semester courses and between mid June and the end of July for second semester classes. Nonetheless, sometimes additional exam sessions may be held in September depending on the course and faculty.[19] Students are asked to achieve a minimum of 60 ECTS (i.e. credits) to be considered on schedule with the course programme, which means and implies that a three-year Bachelor's degree course typically consists of 180 ECTS for the corresponding degree to be attained, while 120 ECTS are necessary for a Master's degree. Nevertheless, additional ECTS may be achieved as well in case students wished to attend additional classes or courses. A single course usually provides either 6, 9 or 12 ECTS, depending on its duration. More specifically, 6, 9 and 12 ECTS classes consist respectively of 60, 90 and 120 hours of lecture attendance.[19]

Research is carried out in 27 departmental and inter-departmental research centers. On campus there are also other major research institutions. The new main headquarters of the Italian Space Agency was inaugurated in Tor Vergata on July 25, 2012.[51] Other important national centres include the Tor Vergata research establishment of National Research Council and the National Institute for Astrophysics. The close proximity and research ties with other distinguished research centers that are near campus, such as the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Environment (ENEA), the European Space Agency Center for Earth Observation and the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics makes Tor Vergata a unique and dynamic research environment.[52]

When it comes to its research outcomes, Tor Vergata University of Rome was ranked, in 2019, 18th in Italy[53] and 200-300th in Europe[54] (more specifically 300-400th for total project funding per partner and 100-200th for its total number of projects) among European academic and non-academic research institutions, according to the European Research Ranking. It was also ranked in 2014, by the same ranking institution, 31st in Europe with regard to its research diversity index.[54]

The President of the Republic of Italy Sergio Mattarella visiting the University of Rome Tor Vergata for 2016-17 academic year opening ceremony

In March 2019, the University of Rome Tor Vergata joined other seven European universities to form the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) Alliance. In June 2019, the European Commission announced that YUFE was among the 17 projects that would receive funding for a three-year pilot under the European Universities Initiative, funded through the Erasmus+ programme. The main aim of this programme is to create 'European Universities' based on cross-border alliances of higher education institutions in order to share a long-term strategy and promote European values and identity, by creating a European university campus for the purpose of promoting students' physical and virtual mobility.[55][56] Hand in hand with this aim goes the YUFE Diploma Supplement Track, rolled out in November 2020, a diploma supplement that acknowledges all the activities, projects and accomplishments, such as academic courses, professional training, etc, that students are given the chance to take part in across the various YUFE universities.[57] Tor Vergata University of Rome is, at the moment, the only university in Italy that is part of the alliance.[58][55]

Tor Vergata University of Rome is also part of the Young European Research Universities Network (Yerun), that aims to create and strengthen collaboration between high-ranked young universities in Europe,[59] as well as of the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA).[60]

The University of Rome Tor Vergata currently offers 20 courses taught in English.

• Orazio Schillaci, the current Italian Minister of Health, was the Rector of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, full professor of nuclear medicine and head of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the same university[61]
• Giovanni Tria, former Minister of Economy and Finance at the Italian Minister of Economy and Finances, professor of Political Economy, Dean of the School of Economics[62]
• Renato Brunetta, Italian Minister of Public Administration,[63] Member of the European Parliament, professor of Economics[64]
• Antonio Dal Monte, physician and medical researcher, former Scientific Director and Head of the Department of Physiology and Biomechanics Institute of Sports Science of the Italian National Olympic Committee (C.O.N.I.)[65]
• Cesare G. De Michelis, professor of Russian Literature[66]
• Alessandro Ferrara, professor of Political Philosophy[67]
• Enrico Giovannini, former OECD Director of Statistics, Professor of Economics and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport[68][69]
• Sabatino Moscati, archaeologist and linguist, professor of Semitic Philology[70]
• Piero Niro, composer, classical pianist, laurea in Philosophy[71]
• Mario Perniola, philosopher, professor of Aesthetics[72]
• Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, Art historian, professor of Modern Art History[73]
• Alessandro Piperno, writer, professor of French literature[74]
• Lucio Russo, physicist, mathematician and historian of Science, professor of Probability Calculus[75]
• René Schoof, mathematician who published the homonymous algorithm (Schoof's Algorithm), professor of Mathematics[76]
• Pietro Trifone, linguist, professor of history of the Italian language[77]
• Gustavo Piga, professor of Economics[78]
• Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, former Italian Minister for the Environment, Land and Sea and former Member of the Italian Parliament[79]
• Domenicangela Lina Unali, professor of English and American literature, novelist, poet, literary critic[80]
• Stefano Semplici, philosopher, professor of Moral Philosophy and Social Ethics, former president of the UNESCO Bioethics Committee[81]
• Gregorio Maria Paone, performer, professor of Clarinet, Music History and Aesthetics, and Music Theory[82]

• University of Rome "Tor Vergata" Website (in Italian and English)
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - School of Economics (in Italian)
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - School of Law (in Italian)
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - School of Humanities (in Italian)
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - School of Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences (in Italian)
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - School of Engineering (in Italian)
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata" - School of Medicine and Surgery (in Italian)

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