Venice International University (VIU)

Venice International University (VIU) is an international network of universities founded by Ca’ Foscari in 1995 with the aim to offer scholars, researchers and students from all over the world an opportunity for advanced education and training in an international context, supporting exchanges of ideas and knowledge. VIU offers Venice and its mainland a wide variety of academic and scientific initiatives that focus principally on: sustainable development, climate change, ageing, urban growth, global ethics, and cultural heritage.

Contacts

Venice International University (VIU)
San Servolo Island, 30100 Venice (Italy)
Tel. +39 041 271 9511 - Fax. +39 041 271 9510
 viu@univiu.org

Aside from Ca’ Foscari, the universities and research centres that participate in the VIU consortium are:

  • Boston College (USA)
  • Città Metropolitana di Venezia (Italy)
  • Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)
  • Duke University (USA)
  • European University at St. Petersburg (Russia)
  • K. U. Leuven (Belgium)
  • Korea University (Republic of Korea)
  • Ludwig Maximilians Universität (Germany)
  • Tel Aviv University (Israel)
  • Tsinghua University (People’s Republic of China)
  • University of Padova (Italy)
  • University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy)
  • IUAV University (Italy)
  • University of Bordeaux (France)
  • University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
  • Waseda University (Japan)

The VIU Campus has its Headquarters in San Servolo Island, a few minutes from St. Mark’s by waterbus.
The San Servolo Campus has all the necessary structures to carry out the university activities: modern operational classrooms with internet Wi-Fi connection, an auditorium, a computer room, a digital laboratory, a library, a cafeteria, a bar, accommodation, sports fields and a large park.

How to participate in the VIU programs

The Academic Senate of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice established that Ca’ Foscari students can insert the VIU courses from the Globalization Program into their open module choices, each worth 6 ECTS, and have it recognized as part of their degree programme.
Furthermore, the Councils for the Departments and Schools or the teaching committees at Ca’ Foscari can establish specific equivalence with the University programmes and the number of recognized formative credits.

For students in the field of economics, in particular, the procedure for inserting VIU courses into study plans is as follows:

  1. Students that intend on selecting a VIU course have two options:

    1. Select a VIU course as a module amongst open unit credits
    2. Select a VIU course as a substitute module (or equivalent) to a module already in the student’s study plan (only in case of equivalences for VIU courses in the economic field at Ca’ Foscari University, please see the relevant table when applicable)

  1. It is not permitted to insert a VIU module and a module of Ca’ Foscari or an equivalent
  2. Students must present their application for inserting VIU modules into their study plan by using the attached document. The application must be handed in to the VIU secretary, who will transmit it to the Secretary for Ca’ Foscari students along with the certificate attesting success in the final examination.

Downloads

file pdfExam recognition - Economic Campus [ITA]139 K
file pdfExam recognition - Humanistic Campus [ITA]148 K

Both teaching and passing the exams of the modules are entirely disciplined by VIU: in particular, students must register for the course at VIU and must not apply the regulations relative to Ca’ Foscari.

VIU promotes interdisciplinary academic activities that combine scientific, humanities and intercultural approaches, and stimulate the dialogue between cultures of the countries represented by professors and students from the universities that participate in VIU activity. The main academic activity for Bachelor and Master's students is the Globalization Program.

The Globalization Program is an innovative program that confronts the topic of globalization and its economic, social, environmental and cultural implications and consequences.

The program aims to contribute to the internationalization of universities associated with VIU, leaving students the opportunity to study and carry out research in an International context on the San Servolo Island Campus. The program allows for an original reflection on the topic of globalization within a network of international representatives, including researchers, directors, entrepreneurs, cultural and local institutions from countries represented within the VIU consortium.

In the autumn term, the program focuses on the topics relative to the management and appreciation of the cultural patrimony and, in particular, the management of cultural heritage, innovation and urban policies.
In the spring term, the program focus on the topic of sustainable development and, in particular, the environmental sustainability and the international division of labour.
In both terms courses on Venice and Italy are offered.

The proposed courses for this program are taught in English by international scholars from universities associated with VIU, and are free to all students of the included universities. The recognition of formative credits on behalf of the provincial university is required.

A rich variety of co-curricular activities further enriches the educational mission of the program through intercultural games, social events, conferences, weekly film showings, creative projects, day trips and guided visits to the most important places and sites in Venice and surrounding areas, as well as other places relevant to the topics discussed in the course.

Enrolment onto the Globalization Program is available on the VIU website.

Gradually, students in their second year of a Master’s Degree programme are offered the opportunity to apply for a program of international mobility. Suitable students for the mobility can undertake it abroad in one of the universities or institutes affiliated with VIU for a period of study and research finalized by the development of a Master’s Degree thesis that looks at the topics covered in the program. Every year partial scholarships are allocated for mobility expenses.

The program is heavily concentrated on Asia, in particular regarding topics inherent to Sustainable Development, a topic already covered by the VIU through the TEN Program on Sustainability and its collaboration with the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Tsinghua University (Beijing) and Tongji University (Shanghai). For topics relative to Cultural Heritage, the program is proud of its collaboration with the Master’s Degree programme in Economics and Managements of Arts and Cultural Activities (EGArt) at Ca’ Foscari.

For more information consult the VIU website.

Downloads

file pdfGP Spring 2021 – call for international mobility330 K

Graduate Activities, Summer/Autumn Schools and Lectures

Since a couple of years VIU organizes a series of activities open to PhD and advanced graduate students.

VIU also coordinates intensive seminars on the Humanities and/or Social Sciences Campuses, open to students from the universities associated with the Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich, three Summer Schools in collaboration with Duke University and Boston College, and VIU Lectures, open to the public, often in collaboration with Venetian institutions and universities.

For more information consult the VIU website at the following links:

Last update: 06/11/2024