Free University of Bozen

Located in South Tyrol, at the foot of the Alps, the Free University of Bozen is an exceptional multilingual university which has been established as a private university with public backing. In its day-to-day operations, unibz operates in all three of the region’s official languages; those being German, Italian, and English. The unique trilingual structure of unibz has enabled it to create cultural and intellectual links between the German-speaking and Italian-speaking parts of South Tyrol and to serve as an educational bridging point between the two.

The establishment of unibz on October 31, 1997 was a response to the specific social and linguistic problems in South Tyrol and the need for a contemporary, practical alternative to the traditional forms of university education found elsewhere in Italy. The establishment of unibz has generally coincided with the emergence of the Italian region’s autonomous status and the need for highly qualified professionals who are able to enter the multicultural workplace in Europe. The Bolzano campus of unibz has been rapidly developing in terms of both size and the design of the buildings as designed by Matthias Bischoff and Roberto Azzola, thus demonstrating the university’s commitment to maintaining a forward-thinking approach while respecting the history of the region.