Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta

Private Roman Catholic university in Rome, Italy

The Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta, often simply abbreviated as "LUMSA", is a private Roman Catholic university founded in 1939 in Rome. It is the second oldest university in Rome after Sapienza. LUMSA was privately founded but belongs to the national Italian network of universities and is therefore able to confer recognised degrees and diploma titles which have full legal force. The principal aspects of LUMSA are to be found in its humanist vocation and Catholic orientation. It has a humanist vocation because, in a society which is scientifically and technologically advanced, there is a growing awareness of the need for ‘wise knowledge’ which is rooted in an authentic idea of man and is able to promote progress for the real good of man and the human community. LUMSA belongs to the national and international scientific research network and has research programmes which operate within certain specific areas: education, the social services, the philosophical, philological, and literary sciences, mass communications, juridical sciences, economics, computer science, and data science.

Research and study activities, which are the vital lymph source of every university system, are always characterised in LUMSA by involvement in cultural and scientific dialogue about the great subjects of contemporary debate. Over the years, the research activities of the faculties of the university have given rise to a great deal of individual and group research, which has been flanked over time by inter university and international research financed by public and private agencies, by structures providing such services, and by funds provided by the university itself. At the present time, research activity is organised around the various research centres of the three faculties.

LUMSA University is characterised by the duality of tradition and modernity because it integrates humanistic and classical knowledge with economics, information technology, and management. Another characteristic of this university is the emphasis it places on students deserving of financial help. Indeed, the overall level of fees for the first income band has been made almost the same as that at state universities. The educational structure of LUMSA is arranged around four divisions. The university offers, through the divisions, undergraduate degrees (Italian laurea) in various social science fields and in data science. In post graduate education, LUMSA offers several graduate programs and two long cycle programs in law and education sciences, as well as four PhDs (Italian dottorato di ricerca).