University of Bergamo: 4th CENSIS small state, languages and engineering in the medieval upper city
With CENSIS 88.8/100 (4th among small state universities) and an 82% employment rate, the University of Bergamo is a high-quality small university. 16,000 students, 40 programmes in languages, economics, management engineering and computer science. Campus in the splendid medieval Bergamo Alta (UNESCO candidate), 50 minutes from Milan and near Orio al Serio international airport.
UniBG: languages, engineering and management in the walled city becoming Lombardy's cultural capital
The University of Bergamo ranks 4th in the CENSIS 2025-2026 small state university ranking (88.8/100), with one of the highest employment rates in its category: 82% of graduates find work within a year. With approximately 16,000 students and 40 degree programmes in foreign languages and literatures, economics and management, management engineering, computer science, law and education sciences, it has built a distinctive academic identity in the Lombard university landscape.
Its most recognised strength is the Faculty of Languages: with over 30 languages taught, translation and interpreting programmes and a strong international orientation, it is one of northern Italy's most valued language schools. Management engineering is another pillar, with an excellent employment rate and strong ties to Bergamo's industrial district — one of Italy's most productive, with precision mechanics, automation and textiles.
10% of students are international — a notable proportion for a university of this size — with active Erasmus+ agreements across Europe. Bergamo is a city of great historic beauty: the medieval Città Alta, a UNESCO candidate, rises above the Lombard hills within its sixteenth-century Venetian walls, an extraordinary architectural heritage.
Academic Areas
University of Bergamo by the numbers
From 1968 to the Città Alta: the University of Bergamo and the cultural rebirth of an industrial city
The University of Bergamo was born in 1968 as an autonomous institution, aiming to provide Bergamo — then one of Italy's most industrialised cities — with a university hub capable of training managers for the local productive district. The initial choice to focus on foreign languages and economics was far-sighted: both areas are still the university's strengths today.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the Bergamo university consolidated its position as a reference for languages and economic training in northern Italy. The addition of management engineering in the 1990s responded to growing demand for technical-managerial professionals from Bergamo's industrial district, creating a unique offering in the Lombard university landscape.
In the 2000s, Bergamo underwent an extraordinary transformation: from an exclusively industrial city to an internationally renowned cultural and tourist hub, driven by the explosion of tourism to the Città Alta and the role of Orio al Serio airport as Italy's second low-cost hub. The university accompanied and accelerated this transformation, becoming a central actor in Bergamo's new identity.
FAQ — Università degli Studi di Bergamo
Study in Bergamo: useful resources for your journey
The University of Bergamo is the excellence choice among small Italian universities for those seeking languages, economics and engineering with an outstanding employment rate in one of Lombardy's most beautiful cities. Discover everything about living and studying in Italy.
