General

WELCOME TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA

Established in 1222 as a response to the specific social and cultural conditions that created a need for it and not as the result of a charter granted by Pope or emperor, University of Padova is the second oldest University in the world and one of the most prestigious in Europe. Its motto of Universa Universis Patavina Libertas was coin to guarantee full respect for university's freedom of teaching and thinking. In 1678, Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman in the world to receive a university degree. Along with such universities as Bologna, Paris, Oxford and Cambridge, Padova was one of the first to exemplify the idea of a Gymnasium Omnium Disciplinarum: an educational model that can now be seen throughout the world.

After about eight centuries of history, nowadays - as the publications of innumerable conferencesand congresses show - University of Padova plays an important role in scholarly and scientific research at both European and worldwide level. True to its origins, this is the direction in which the Institution intends to move in the future, establishing closer and closer links of co-operation and exchange with all the world's major research universities.

The two very first Degree Courses in Psychology in Italy were established in 1971, one of them in Padova, the other in Rome. In the University of Padova, professors and researchers carry out their lecturing and scientific activities in a large number of areas of psychology, such as cognitive science, neuropsychology, social psychology, applied psychology, developmental psychology, perception and psychophysics, psychometrics, clinical psychology, etc.

The very high quality of teaching is greatly appreciated as demonstrated by its ranking published by the independent CENSIS Institute (www.censis.it) which, in the last years, has placed the Degrees in Psychology of the University of Padova at the top of all such degree courses in Italy.