USI Founded in 1996, the University of Lugano (USI) is a recognized interdisciplinary and multilingual university with four faculties. Its relatively small size and high-quality infrastructure facilitate student-teacher interaction and create the ideal conditions for study and research at both the Lugano and Mendrisio campuses. The official language is Italian, but English, the second working language, is used in many of the master's programs, in the graduate schools, and in the professional master’s courses. German and French are also used as languages in a few specialist courses. USI was among the first Swiss universities to adopt the new European university system. By means of teaching and research agreements or partnerships with other Swiss universities and with major universities in Northern Italy, USI has established an academic bridge between Northern and Southern Europe, paving the way for inter-university master’s courses, cross-border doctoral schools, and research projects, notably with the Polytechnic University of Milan and ETH Zurich. The development of research in the sectors of urban planning, finance, healthcare communication, health economics, distance teaching, and in some sectors of informatics, has considerably boosted the number of postgraduates (currently over 100) as well as funding for Swiss and European projects.