University of Milan

of the main building Early years The University of Milan was founded in 1924 from the merger of two institutions that boasted a great tradition of medical, scientific and humanistic studies: the Accademia Scientifico-Letteraria (Scientific-Literary Academy), active since 1861, and the Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento (Clinical Specialisation Institutes), established in 1906. By 1928, the university already had the fourth-highest number of enrolled students in Italy, after the University of Naples, Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Padua. Many of its premises are located in Città Studi (City of Studies), the university district of Milan (where the Polytechnic University of Milan is also located) which was built from 1915 onwards. The scientific Schools and Departments of the University of Milan are mostly located in the Città Studi district, while the School of Humanities, School of Law, School of Political, Economic and Social Sciences, among others, are mostly located within the historic city centre. At the time of its foundation, there were four "traditional" Schools – Law, Humanities, Medicine, and Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences. Later, in the 1930s, the Schools of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture were introduced, after the aggregation of the old Schools of Veterinary Medicine (1792) and Agriculture (1871). At the end of the Second World War, the old Ospedale Maggiore di Milano (Major Hospital of Milan) building, originally named the Magna Domus Hospitalis (The Great House of the Hospital) and colloquially known as the ''Ca' Granda'' (The Great House), was assigned to the University of Milan. One of the first Italian examples of civil architecture and the main building of the Policlinico of Milan hospital complex established during the Renaissance period, it was designed by Filarete and commissioned in 1456 by Francesco I Sforza, the fourth Duke of Milan (the first Duke from the House of Sforza, which had succeeded the House of Visconti in 1450). The building had been seriously damaged by the bombings of 1943. In 1958, after a complex series of reconstruction and renovation works, it became home to the University Rector's Office, the administrative offices, and the Schools of Law and Humanities. 1960s reformation In the 1960s, due to the extension of compulsory school attendance and the subsequent liberalisation of access to higher education, the number of people entering Italian universities progressively increased and the University of Milan enrolled more than 60,000 students. The university broadened the range of its courses and at the same time increased its number of centres. Two new schools (the School of Pharmacy and the School of Social and Political Sciences) were established, and were based, respectively, in Città Studi and in Via Conservatorio, in the city centre of Milan. Città Studi was also the site of a new complex, intended entirely for the Biology departments, which was the work of architect Vico Magistretti. There was also an increase in the number of agreements with the city's hospital facilities, where students from the School of Medicine receive their clinical training. In 1968, the university was occupying approximately ; by the beginning of the 1980s this had increased to . In 1989 there were 22 degree-awarding schools and 75,000 enrolled students, which increased to 90,000 by 1993. 1980s streamline process In view of this increase, the university began a process of streamlining and delocalising its facilities: from 1986 onwards, new centres began to appear in other areas of Milan, particularly in the Bicocca district, as well as in other parts of the region: in Como, Varese, Crema and Lodi. In 1998, the university split in two and the city's second public institution was founded: The University of Milan-Bicocca. The University of Insubria was also established in Varese, bringing together courses that were already offered at Varese and Como by the Universities of Milan and Pavia. At the conclusion of this process, notwithstanding the reduction in the number of students, the University of Milan was still the largest institution in Lombardy and still one of the largest in the country. The 2001 law that transformed the education system opened a new phase of change. The university updated its range of courses, trying to adapt them to better suit the evolution of the social demand for education and the innovation of the production system: thus, the number of degree-awarding programmes rose to 74 and there was a new increase in enrolments. There was also an increase in the university's commitment to providing student services (orientation, internships and training, online education) and in investments for new education and research facilities, covering approximately . The most recent phase of expansion concerned the fields of communication science, intercultural mediation and art, but there are also ongoing projects relating to the sectors of information technology, veterinary medicine and biomedicine. Furthermore, there was also a strengthening of commitment to technology transfer and the practical application of scientific research results in the economic-production context. Present At present, the university comprises 9 schools, 134 degree-awarding programmes (both undergraduate and graduate), 19 doctoral schools (scuole di dottorato) and 92 specialisation schools (scuole di specializzazione). Approximately 65,000 students are enrolled at the university. The teaching staff is composed of 2,500 tenured professors and researchers and approximately 500 adjunct professors. More than 2,300 people work in the technical and administrative sector. The University of Milan was one of the institutions that helped to establish the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and is the only Italian member of the organisation. Thanks to its commitment to basic and applied research, the University of Milan is among Italy's top institutions in the main national and international rankings. ==Academics==