A widespread and sustainable university

The history of the University of Bologna in the 21th century.

A year after celebrating its 9th Centenary (1988), the Alma Mater Studiorum was also able to benefit from Law no. 168 of 1989, which granted organisational, teaching and financial autonomy to all Italian universities.

Cantiere NavileIn this way, the University of Bologna restored the principles of freedom and independence that had distinguished it in the glorious Middle Ages. It was also the first university in Italy to embark on the project which would eventually lead, at the beginning of the new millennium, to the creation of the largest Multicampus in Italy, the one in the Romagna region.

Also at the end of the 20th century (1999), Bologna, once again, hosted a key meeting in order to develop and update the inter-university agreement. In the new Aula Magna, 29 European higher education ministers signed the Bologna Declaration: this was the result of a lengthy reform process (the Bologna Process) which, in 2010, led to the harmonisation of the architecture of the European higher education system (which, today, has 48 participating countries).

The city’s and the university’s long-standing openness to international circles was thus restored, with a new European and global scope, focusing increasingly on the primary function of education and on new technological and ecological goals for the future.