University of Florence

The University of Florence is an important and influential centre for research and higher training in Italy, with 1,800 lecturers and internal research staff, 1,600 technical and administrative staff, and over 1,600 research assistants and doctoral students.

It offers a wide range of study programmes at various levels and in all areas of knowledge.

126 Degree courses (First and Second Cycle, corresponding to Bachelor's and Master's Degrees) organised in 10 Schools, with a population of about 51,000 enrolled students, one-fourth of which come from outside of Tuscany.

There are over 9,000 degrees awarded each year in Florence. According to the alumni data, the percentage of students who are in the workforce one year after their First Level degree is above national average.

The University of Florence has a natural international vocation and the development of internationalization is one of its strategic priorities.

It is one of the largest and most productive public research systems in Italy. This result is accomplished thanks to the number of permanent and temporary researchers working in a wide range of disciplinary and scientific fields, and the numerous junior scientists in training. It is also due to an intensive participation in research programmes of national and international relevance and to the significant scientific results achieved. External funds support the research and knowledge transfer activities. This combination of factors qualifies the Florentine institution as a modern research university and accounts for its excellent position in national and world rankings. Researchers at the University of Florence operate within 24 different departments and have at their disposal approximately 40 research structures comprising inter-departmental and inter-university centres as well as specialised research, knowledge transfer and advanced training centres.

In recent years the University of Florence has increasingly consolidated its ventures in the field of knowledge transfer: from the filing of patents to the setting up of joint workshops with businesses, through to participation in spin-off companies.

Knowledge transfer activities are coordinated by CSAVRI (Centro di Servizi di Ateneo per la Valorizzazione della Ricerca e la gestione dell'Incubatore universitario), the centre for the enhancement of research and management of the university's incubator.

The President is the legal representative of the University: he has a political role, presides over the Academic Senate and the Board of Administrators and supervises the running of the University. The General Manager is appointed by the Board of Administrators on proposal from the President after consultation with the Academic Senate. The General Manager is responsible for the central technical and administrative management of the University, and uses the central administration offices of the University for the political management of the Governing Bodies.

The Statute describes in detail the structure of the governing bodies. The 24 Departments are the key organising structures that carry out all research, teaching and training activities involving knowledge and innovation transfer.

The Academic Senate represents all components of the university. It counts 29 members: the President, who chairs it, ten department directors; ten lecturers and researchers representing the five disciplinary areas; three representatives of the technical/administrative staff, the readers and the language experts; five students.

The Board of Administrators is the ruling body of the university. It counts 11 members: the President who chairs it, three external and five internal members, two student representatives. The three external members are nominated by the Senate. Candidacies are selected by a dedicated committee.

The teaching and research staff is divided into three levels: full professors, associate professors, and researchers.
Access to these categories is through national scientific competitions based on qualifications and exams for researchers and associate professors, and based on qualifications alone for full professors.

Technical and administrative staff are organised into different categories, depending on their qualifications and on the kind of competitive entrance examination; their working position is regulated by national collective bargaining agreements.