The ISUFI Superior School, is a center for innovative advanced academic education and research at the University of Salento.
Founded in 1999 and officially recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) in 2005, ISUFI is a proud member of the national system of University High Schools.
We are committed to selecting young Italian and international talents on the basis of merit, offering them an exceptional training experience that complements their standard university studies.

The mission is to provide a unique, collegial, interdisciplinary, and international pre- and post-graduate experience. We prepare our students to tackle the most ambitious challenges of the professional world. Inspired by the model of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, our goal is to shape future leaders by integrating outstanding academic training with a strong emphasis on personal and intellectual growth.

Upon completing the five-year program, students are awarded a License Diploma, equivalent by law to a second-level Master’s Degree.

ISUFI offers high-level interdisciplinary programs across three core academic areas:

• Humanities: Letters and Philosophy, Cultural Heritage, Modern Languages and Literatures, Education Sciences.

• Social Sciences: Economics, Law, Social, Political and Regional Sciences.

• Natural Sciences & Engineering: Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences, Engineering.

Our curriculum focuses on strategic themes such as:

• Scientific research methodologies

• Interdisciplinary applications of hard sciences

• Environmental and economic sustainability

• Social inclusion

• Mediterranean studies

• Cultural heritage and territorial development

Learning is enriched through high-level courses, seminars, conferences, roundtables, laboratory activities, and annual colloquia. Students have access to an innovative College with well-equipped libraries, study areas, and state-of-the-art computational and spectroscopic facilities.

A cornerstone of the ISUFI experience is its strong international and professional orientation.

Beyond excellent teaching, ISUFI is dedicated to post-graduate placement, actively building networks with leading Italian and foreign institutions to help our talented graduates seamlessly enter the job market. Our philosophy is to create social value by disseminating knowledge and innovation within the community.

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. 

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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.