Università della Svizzera italiana

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Università della Svizzera italiana

Established:	1996
Type:	Public
Endowment:	CHF 60 million
President:	Piero Martinoli
Director:	Josep Acebillo
Staff:	181^[1]
Students:	2157^[1]
Doctoral students:	147^[1]
Location:	Lugano (main)
Campus:	Urban 15 acres (0.1 km²)
Athletics:	(no teams)
Website:	www.unisi.ch

Università della Svizzera italiana (USI, literally University of Italian Switzerland, English name University of Lugano) is a public university located in Lugano, Switzerland founded in 1996. USI has four faculties (schools), and follows the European standard of three-year undergraduate studies and two-year master's (in Italian or English).

1 Campus
- 1.1 Infrastructure
2 Departments & Faculty
3 Student life and culture
4 References
5 External links
- 5.1 Maps

[edit] Campus

Campus Map

The Lugano campus developed around an existing neo-classical structure that was originally the city hospital circa 1996. Several state-of-the-art buildings have been added, most notably Informatics (2007), Aula Magna, Aule, Library, and LAB.

The main building consists of four floors containing: Communications and Economics offices (1-3), the Executive Centre, four computer labs (1), classrooms (1-3), the ALaRI institute (4), dining-center (2)(Q1-2007), and third-floor auditorium (3)(Q3-2007). The library is four floors tall: study tables line the interior, and a moderate collection of books and periodicals extend to the periphery; books can be requested from other libraries (e.g. ETH Zurich). The LAB has six floors: three floors dedicated as partitioned study & research space for Economics students; its name originates from its purpose as ETH Zurich's Chemical & Applied Biosciences Department.

The Aule, informally known as "Palazzo Rosso" (Red Building), hosts six classrooms on its three floors, and is commonly used by Economics and Communications faculties. The modern-looking concrete & metal Informatics building finished in 2007 contains classrooms (1), offices and study areas reserved for CS students and mentors (2-3). The university parking lot is hosted underneath Informatics and Aule.

Aula Magna is a university's convention hall and capable of seating over 1,000 people; it is used to host university conferences, speeches, and classical music concerts; and solely the entrance to the hall is visible above ground. South of the main building, the Central Services offices houses the presidency and core services of the university, and the Institutes provide offices for PhDs, assistants, and other research students.

[edit] Infrastructure

On-campus buildings require student ID badges for access to university facilities. Campus-wide Wi-Fi and wired Internet access connects students to the Swiss SWITCH network.

There are no official dorms on campus; student apartments are obtained through local agencies.

[edit] Departments & Faculty

USI has four faculties, three of which are located on the main campus, namely, Economics, Communication Science, and Informatics. The faculty of Architecture is located in the nearby town of Mendrisio. The campus is also shared with a theology department which is not affiliated with the university.

[edit] Architecture

With forty lecturers and twenty-five design studios (including the famous Mario Botta), the USI Architecture school in Mendrisio trains 507 students for 3-year bachelor, and 2-year masters degree.

[edit] Economics

Lead by dean Mauro Baranzini. 808 students (2006). Topics: Banking, Finance, Management, Economics and International Policies (it); Financial Communication, Marketing; in English and Italian.

[edit] Communication Science

Lead by dean Giuseppe Richeri. 477 students (2006). Topics: Corporate Communication, Tourism, and Education in Italian and English.

[edit] Informatics

Founded in 2004, it offers the only undergraduate program at USI, with English as the language of instruction. It has a highly competent, international staff, and a rigorous curriculum, still being shaped. The dean is currently Mehdi Jazayeri, a senior member and fellow of the IEEE and author of several books.

First year students cover mathematical topics, computer architecture, networking, and fundamental concepts of programming. A further course persists throughout the 3 year undergraduate curriculum. Called the Atelier, it has the purpose of bringing the courses together and to provide exposure to real world tools that are useful to computer scientists, including Unix, LaTeX, HTML/CSS, CVS.

Students are expected to learn about a wide variety of topics, from big-O notation and calculus, through networking protocols and layers, to computer architecture. A variety of programming languages are used. Programming is introduced through Scheme and functional programming throughout the first semester, in parallel with the computer architecture course (which uses MIPS assembly). Later on, C and mostly Java are used. The curriculum puts a strong emphasis on teamwork, with a major group project happening at the end of every semester.

Master topics include Software Design, Dependable Distributed Systems, Embedded System Design (see ALaRI), Intelligent Systems (with IDSIA), Applied Informatics (with SUPSI).

[edit] Student life and culture

The University of Lugano had 2157 students in 2006-2007^[1]; of these 997 (48%) are Swiss, and 1142 (52%) are foreign - from Italy (33%) or from thirty other nationalities (19%). Exchange students (see Erasmus) for 2006-2007 were 116 (5%). Overall a varied group of individuals and cultures.

In leisure time, students participate in city-sponsored tourism events^[2], school-sponsored sporting activities^[3], and student associations^[4], despite the town's small population. Eight student associations have been established, with student clubs oriented around economics (AIESEC, Finance Floor USI), informatics (EESTEC, IEEE student branch), and communications (L'universo newspaper). Student clubs help orient students beyond the scope and purpose of the university orientation program, providing both professional guidance and information in career choices, and shorter-term personal experience sharing on services and entertainment within student financial means otherwise not advertised in Lugano.