USI closes the 2025/2026 academic year amid anniversaries, growth, and new strategic projects

The 2025/2026 academic year was a year of transition and consolidation for Università della Svizzera italiana, marked by symbolic moments, new institutional developments, and significant achievements in education, research, and relations with the region. Below, we review it in detail, touching on every key moment: from the thirtieth anniversary to changes in the Rectorate, through the creation of new institutes and study programmes, to research results and international rankings, right up to the numerous initiatives developed in dialogue with the region.

Among the main changes was the handover at the helm of the University, with the farewell to Rector Luisa Lambertini and the arrival of Gabriele Balbi as Rector ad interim. Over the course of the year, Antonio Carzaniga joined the Rectorate as Pro-Rector for Innovation and Corporate Relations and Raphaël Parchet as Pro-Rector for Research, succeeding Luca Maria Gambardella and Patrick Gagliardini, respectively. USI has also appointed Alan Valnegri as the new Director of Operations, taking office from 1 September 2026.

The academic year coincided with USI's thirtieth birthday, celebrated during the 30th Dies academicus and through a series of initiatives aimed at the university community and the public. These included the second edition of the UniVerso open day event, which brought around 3,500 people to the West Campus Lugano, and the Alumni Reunion, which also reunited the very first generations of the University's graduates.

In terms of education and academic development, USI announced the new Master of Science in Health, which will launch in the 2026/2027 academic year. Furthermore, the new Joint Translational Research Institute between USI and EOC (Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale), based in Bellinzona, and the new Institute for Sustainable Architecture and Technology were established.

The figures also confirm the University's growth. In the 2025/2026 academic year, there were 4,750 students enrolled at USI, of whom 2,078 were in Bachelor's programmes, 1,977 were in Master's programmes, 616 were PhD students, and 79 were enrolled in continuing education for at least 60 ECTS. The results achieved in competitive research were also significant. In 2025, USI secured around 33.5 million francs in competitive funding, primarily from the Swiss National Science Foundation, SERI, Innosuisse, swissuniversities, and private foundations. At the same time, nearly a hundred researchers from USI and its affiliated institutes were included in the 2025 edition of the "World's Top 2% Scientists" ranking, based on Scopus data.

On the international recognition front, USI also climbed the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, moving from the 301–350 bracket to the 251–300 globally, thus placing itself in the top 12% of universities worldwide. The USI Startup Centre also achieved major recognition by entering the Financial Times 2026 ranking dedicated to Europe’s leading startup hubs.

The academic year also saw numerous initiatives linked to the University's so-called "third mandate" and dialogue with the region, with over 300 events organised by the institution. To mention a few, these included two new "USI incontra" events dedicated to Flavio Del Ponte and Ruth Metzler-Arnold, the "Unfolding the River" project along the Cassarate river, coordinated by Prof. Martino Pedrozzi, and the inauguration of the Spazio WeTube at USI, created in collaboration with Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI) to foster digital creativity, exploration, and campus life.

Among the projects that brought USI onto the international stage were the "Clouds" exhibition by Atelier Blumer, hosted at the House of Switzerland during the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games and visited by around 40,000 people in 19 days; and the participation in Expo 2025 Osaka thanks to CodeLounge from the Software Institute of the Faculty of Informatics, and the "Thermal Governance" project by Prof. Sascha Roesler and PhD assistant Julian Raffetseder.

Continuing the dialogue between technology and society, the President of the Confederation, Guy Parmelin, visited the "Stay on Track!" installation at Phänomena, developed by USI Software Institute and dedicated to autonomous driving.

Finally, during the year, USI signed the Magna Charta Universitatum, joining the international network of over 1,000 universities committed to the principles of academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and the social responsibility of universities.