Ca' Foscari Venice: CENSIS 2nd medium state, Asian languages and management in the world's most beautiful university
Ca' Foscari ranks 2nd in the CENSIS 2025-2026 medium state ranking (93.0/100), with an 85% employment rate and 20% international students. 22,000 students, 80 programmes. Absolute excellence in Oriental languages, economics and environmental sciences in the Grand Canal palace — the world's most beautiful university setting.

Ca' Foscari: #2 CENSIS medium state, Oriental languages, economics and environmental sciences on the Grand Canal
The University Ca' Foscari Venice is one of Italy's most prestigious and captivating universities: second in the CENSIS 2025-2026 medium state ranking (93.0/100), with an employment rate of 85% and 20% international students. With approximately 22,000 students and 80 degree programmes, Ca' Foscari is European-recognised for excellence in Oriental languages and cultures, economics and management, environmental sciences and digital humanities.
Ca' Foscari's most extraordinary feature is its setting: the historic palazzo on the Grand Canal, one of Venice's most beautiful and symbolic buildings, complemented by modern facilities in the Dorsoduro sestiere. Studying at Ca' Foscari means having Venice — UNESCO World Heritage and the world's unique city of art — as a permanent campus. This geographical and cultural uniqueness is reflected in the university's academic identity, oriented towards internationalisation, intercultural dialogue and environmental sustainability.
The Department of Asian and North African Studies is world-class for Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Persian languages and cultures. The QS World University Rankings places Ca' Foscari in the global top 600. The university is among the founders of the Coimbra Group and EPIC, networks of leading European universities of excellence.
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Ca' Foscari Venice by the numbers
From 1868 to the Grand Canal: Ca' Foscari and the Venetian tradition of international commerce
The University Ca' Foscari was founded in 1868 as the Regia Scuola Superiore di Commercio (Royal Higher School of Commerce), aiming to train merchants, diplomats and cultural mediators for post-Risorgimento Venice, which sought to reclaim its role as a crossroads of international trade. The name 'Ca' Foscari' honoured Doge Francesco Foscari, symbol of Venetian greatness.
The institution was pioneering in Italy: it was among the first to offer teaching of Oriental languages and trade with the East, reflecting Venice's millennia-old mercantile tradition. During the twentieth century it expanded to include economics, political science, European languages and eventually environmental sciences.
Today Ca' Foscari is recognised as one of Italy's best universities for international vocation and research quality. Its position in Venice — also a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status for the challenges of human-environment coexistence — makes it a natural laboratory for sustainability sciences.
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Study in Venice: useful resources for your journey
Ca' Foscari Venice is the most captivating choice among Italian universities for those wishing to study Oriental languages, economics and environmental sciences in the world's most beautiful city. Discover everything about living and studying in Italy.



