Ca' Foscari University of Venice

Originally established as Italy's first business school in 1868, Ca'Foscari University of Venice is now a multidisciplinary institution with over 23,000 students and more than 1 400 faculty and staff members. We currently offer 60 bachelor's and master's degree programmes in economics and management, modern languages, the humanities and sciences.

At Ca'Foscari, we believe in the importance of embracing and celebrating each person's uniqueness and therefore, diversity as an opportunity for personal growth, debate, enrichment, connection, and mutual respect for different perspectives and points of view. Our payoff Value in Plurality summarises this commitment, and our initiatives are detailed on the 'Inclusive Ca'Foscari' webpage. 

Ca'Forcari University of Venice boasts four disciplines in the world Top 100 in the QS World University Rankings by subject:  our institution is among the best universities in the world for Classical Studies and Ancient History (45th in ranking), Modern Languages (69th in the overall ranking and 3rd in Italy), History (3rd in the national ranking) and Hospitality and Leisure management (1st again among Italian universities).

Our University also ranks among the top 140 universities worldwide for Theology among the top 150 in Archaeology, Philosophy, and Anthropology. Excellent results were also achieved in Linguistics, Geography, Economics and Econometrics (5th in Italy), which were acknowledged in the world's Top 200. 

We put our best human and technological resources into innovative and interdisciplinary study programmes in various fields and ensure they are always open to the world. The university curriculum is enriched by innovative teaching courses, activities and workshops, to offer an education in line with the highest European standards. We support our community in all aspects and stages of their university career. We offer welcome, orientation and career services to promote inclusion and wellbeing, and support our graduates entering the world of work.

Ca’ Foscari prepares its students for the competitive global workplace and fosters an international, inclusive academic community, with 20 bachelor's and master's degree programmes entirely taught in English. In the firm belief that higher education and impactful research must be both innovative and international, the university has forged an extensive academic network of partner universities spanning the globe, allowing it to offer over 30 joint/double degree programmes and more than 700 exchange agreements with institutions all over the world. 

Ca’ Foscari is located in the awe-inspiring city of Venice. With canals and boats instead of streets and cars, this city’s truly singular historic center has been a vibrant place of cultural and economic exchange for over a millennium, and the beauty of its art and architecture has made it a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to the stimulating cultural legacy of its dynamic cosmopolitan context, Ca’ Foscari is characterized by the synergetic intersection of tradition and intellectual innovation, offering its students and professors the uniquely rewarding opportunity to learn and work in one of the world’s most remarkable cities.

Although located in a city with over 1,600 years of history, Ca’ Foscari is a modern, forward-looking institution in every way. Our faculty and researchers are committed to impactful research that addresses the many global challenges facing us today, our policies make sustainability in all of its forms an institutional priority. We are dedicated to the kind of innovative interdisciplinary teaching and learning that turns university students into global citizens who have the knowledge and the motivation to make their mark on the world.

We promote frontier research with the active application of the hard sciences and digital sciences to the centuries-old tradition rooted in the social sciences, humanities and economics. We are among the top institutions in Europe for the number of Marie Curie fellowships funded by the EU, and first in Italy for European Research Council (ERC) funding. For the quality of their scientific projects, four departments have been acknowledged by MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research) as "Departments of Excellence".

Ca’ Foscari organises many Public engagement activities. The aim is to enhance and promote academic research by investing in open and accessible education and in technology and knowledge transfer, and to open up to society at large, sharing activities and resources. We have established ourselves over the years as a scientific point of reference, an agent for innovation and social progress in the Venice area and in the Veneto region. We promote knowledge transfer by networking with companies and organisations, by setting up training and professional opportunities, and by organising public events. From the Ca’ Foscari Theatre to the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival, the first European film festival run entirely by enrolled students, from Incroci di Civiltà, the International literature festival which attracts some of the greatest names in contemporary writing from around the world, to the Ca’ Foscari Art Night and a host of exhibitions all around the city, Ca’ Foscari plays a central role in the cultural life of the city.