The Higher School ISUFI (Istituto Superiore Universitario di Formazione Interdisciplinare) is a centre of higher education embedded in the University of Salento. Its aim is to enhance the quality of the University's teaching offer and to foster the development of scientific knowledge, the recognition of merit and the development of higher education activities with interdisciplinary, international and collegial features.
Founded in 1999, it was institutionalised in 2005 by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research. It is part of the national system of University Higher Schools, and is the only Higher School in peninsular Italy to be located south of Rome.
The School operates according to the model of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. It selects young Italian and foreign talents exclusively on the basis of merit and offers them an education of excellence to supplement and complement ordinary university courses. The significant costs of this training, characterised by residency and internationality, are borne entirely by the Italian state.
Students admitted to the School must enrol in a Department of the University of Salento and follow the course of study envisaged for the bachelor's degree and the master's degree, achieving by 31 December a number of CFUs equal to 3/4 of the credits envisaged by the respective study plans for each year of the course and maintain an average of at least 27/30. At the same time, they must participate in the specific advanced training activities organised for them by the School, including two language lectures, colloquia, seminars and lecture series of a disciplinary and interdisciplinary nature, totalling 250 hours per year. They must also undertake at least one semester of study abroad.
On the basis of Ministerial Decree no. 1093 of 21 September 2021, the Ministry of Universities and Research obtained the equivalence of the Licence qualification, awarded to students who complete the five-year course, to a Level II university Master's degree.
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News! The call for applications for the 2023/2024 academic year at the ISUFI Graduate School has been published.
The official page of the call for applications is: https://www.unisalento.it/bandi-concorsi/-/bandi/view/66636045
The English version of the call for applications is available here (Deadline 14 July 2023): https://www1.unisalento.it/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=63872469&folderId=66636046&name=DLFE-662801.pdf
The School has a modern College located on the University Campus of the University of Salento. The structure, designed and built according to sustainability criteria, surrounded by a large green area and adjacent to the University of Salento Botanical Garden, consists of a three-storey building equipped with porter's lodge, offices (Management and Administration), studios (lecturers and doctoral students), study rooms for ordinary courses, conference rooms equipped with modern audio-visual equipment (with interactive multimedia blackboards), classrooms for lectures and language services, laboratories, library, gymnasium, cafeteria and shop (currently being set up), flats for students, flats for guests of the University of Salento, communal kitchens, green spaces and garages.
To selected students, the School offers free accommodation at the ISUFI College, with a commitment to use it continuously for the duration of their studies.
At the beginning of the academic year, each student of the ISUFI Ordinary Courses (Level I, II and III) is given a furnished room with a magnetic card, which must then be handed over with its furnishings at the end of the same year. The latter also has access to all the College's common areas, such as kitchens, study rooms, reading rooms, gymnasium, library and laundry.
Pursuant to art. 76 of the Statute of the University of Salento and taking into account the institutional aims set out in Ministerial Decree no. 388 of 24 April 2013, the regulations governing the collegiate life of ordinary students and the way in which the accommodation and facilities of the ISUFI Higher School are used are the School's Housing Regulations.
The ISUFI School of Higher Education can only be accessed through a merit competition, which is announced annually. [see the Announcements and Competitions section: https://www.unisalento.it/bandi-concorsi/-/bandi/view/66636045 (a.y. 2023/2024)].
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The disciplinary areas for which places are advertised are as follows:
- Economic-Judicial Area
- Technical-Scientific Area
- Humanistic-Social Area
The tests are aimed at assessing the candidate's overall suitability, in particular basic knowledge in the chosen area, general education, aptitude for research, critical ability.
What we offer
The winners of the competition
- are enrolled, with the right to full reimbursement of fees paid, on study courses at the University of Salento
- are entitled to free accommodation at the School's facilities
- receive a contribution towards teaching and research costs of €1,200 per year;
- receive a computer with remote access to the University's resources;
- have the opportunity to learn two languages;
- undertake at least one semester of studies and internships abroad.
Those who enter the School have before them the prospect of five years at a University of excellence, with the possibility of serenely cultivating their vocation for study and research, their specific disciplinary interests, and at the same time receiving individual interdisciplinary and innovative training.
He will be accompanied throughout his studies by professors who teach specifically at the School, by individual mentors (reference professors) and by native speakers.
He/she will have the opportunity to follow cycles of seminars and lectures given at the School by visiting professors of international prestige.
You will have the opportunity to live in a young, dynamic, friendly and select environment, using the School's special libraries, participating in the activities of the numerous research units of the Departments of the University of Salento, with access to their laboratories and databases.
He/she will have the opportunity to study abroad for at least one semester at internationally renowned European universities, doing internships at institutes that have an agreement with the School, with full recognition of the training credits acquired.
What we ask
The students, in order to keep their place in the Scuola Superiore, must reside in the residential facility made available to them in Lecce, in accordance with the Housing Regulations, attend the courses of the Faculty of the University of Salento in which they are enrolled, and assiduously follow all the training activities dedicated to them during the academic year.
They must achieve, by 31 December, a number of CFUs equal to three quarters of the credits envisaged by their respective study plans for each year of the course and successfully pass their internal examinations, including the annual colloquium and the language lectures. They must achieve an average of at least 27/30 in university and internal examinations and a mark of at least 24/30 in each examination.
At the end of the course they must present and discuss a specific thesis.
Failure to meet these requirements results in exclusion from the School.
