Polytechnic University of Turin
The Polytechnic University of Turin is a public university based in Turin, Italy. Established in 1859, it is Italy’s oldest technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture and Industrial Design.
History
The Regio Politecnico di Torino was established in 1906. The present-day institution was preceded by the Scuola di Applicazione per gli Ingegneri and the Museo Industriale Italiano founded in 1862 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Industry. The Technical School for Engineers was part of the University, which led to technical studies being accepted as part of higher education. In those times Italy was about to begin a new industrial era, which the Industry Museum was to address more directly thanks to famous scholars and researchers dealing with new subjects such as electrotechnics and building science. The new school was deeply concerned with the needs of the Italian society and its development perspectives.Like other well known Polytechnic Schools in the first years of the 20th century the Regio Politecnico di Torino had several goals and began contacting the European academic world and the Italian industry. Aeronautics began as a subject. Students from all over Italy came to Turin and found in the new laboratories built for the study of various subjects ranging from chemistry to architecture in a positive and helpful atmosphere. During November 1958 a large complex of buildings located in Corso Duca degli Abruzzi was inaugurated in order to expand the volume and the facilities offered by the historical headquarters of Valentino Castle, given in 1859 to the Technical School for Engineers.
In the 1990s, new teaching campuses were opened in Alessandria, Biella, Ivrea and Mondovì.
Campuses
Campuses of the Politecnico di Torino draw inspiration from the structure of Anglo-Saxon ones, with multipurpose buildings for teaching, basis and applied research and services to the students in Turin, and a regional network of technological centers, dedicated to research activities, technological transfer, specialist education and services to the region.The historical and representative base of the Politecnico is in the town, on the River Po: the Castle of Valentino, a House of Savoy of the 17th Century. It is the main teaching campus for Architecture and has an area of 23.000 sq. m. The big complex in corso Duca degli Abruzzi – with 122.000 sq. m., the main campus of Engineering – was opened in 1958 and it is completed by the Cittadella Politecnica: a modern complex of 170,000 sq. m. adjoining to the main building, including areas dedicated to students, research activities, technological transfer and services. The newest campus is the Design and Sustainable Mobility Citadel, in an area adjoining to the manufacturing establishment of Mirafiori, FIAT manufacturing facility which has been remodeled as well as the Lingotto building, which hosts the Master School.
Students and teaching
STUDENTS- 32.000 students
- 30% women
- 42% students from outside Piedmont
- 16.5% international students
- 4,900 first year students
- 12% first year international students
- 400 Specialization Master students
- 633 PhD students
- 28 Degree programs
- 32 MS Degree programs
- 18 Courses completely in English
- 6 I level Specialization Masters
- 27 II level Specialization Masters
- 24 PhD programs
- 6 Advanced training programs
- 1 Specialization program
5,371 graduates in 2012
- 2,802 first cycle level graduates
- 2,569 second cycle level graduates
42% have permanent contracts
Research
Research activities, in particular, are structured in four macro-areas: Industrial Engineering; Information Technology; Management and Mathematical Engineering; Civil, Environmental, Architecture and Design Engineering.DEPARTEMENTS
The two souls characterizing Departments are research and teaching. Departments indeed carry out duties of coordination, promotion of research, organization and management of the teaching activity, following the recent reform of the University system.
- DAD – Department of Architecture and Design
- DAUIN – Department of Control and Computer Engineering
- DENERG – Department of Energy
- DET – Department of Electronics and Telecommunications
- DIATI – Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering
- DIGEP – Department of Management and Production Engineering
- DIMEAS – Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- DISAT – Department of Applied Science and Technology
- DISEG – Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering
- DISMA – Department of Mathematical Sciences
- DIST – Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning
Internationalization
Politecnico di Torino has agreement with Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent Uzbekistan. There Politecnico di Torino prepare students in the field of Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Computer science and Civil engineering.
Courses
The main courses offered are architecture, architectural engineering, industrial design, aerospace engineering, automotive engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering, environmental engineering, energy engineering, engineering physics, material engineering, mechanical engineering, mechatronics, mining engineering, nuclear engineering, nanotechnology, production engineering, petroleum engineering, telecommunications engineering and textile engineering.Research
Research alliances
The Polytechnic has research links with local and international companies, reaching about 700 yearly research contracts with firms such as , Thales Alenia Space, Intel, Motorola, Compaq, Ferrari, Fiat, Leonardo, General Motors, Telecom Italia, Freescale, Vishay, Avio, Agusta, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, Pininfarina, Bosch, General Electric, STMicroelectronics and ESA.Networks
The Politecnico di Torino is a member of- CLUSTER which is a network of leading European Universities of Technology
- European Network for Training and Research in Electrical Engineering
- Top Industrial Managers for Europe network
- European Spatial Development Planning network.
- University Network for Innovation, Technology and Engineering
Ranking
University's Innovative Enterprise and Business Incubator 'I3P' was ranked in 2014 as the 5th best in Europe and 15th overall in the world by UBI Index
Politecnico Di Torino is the top national recipient of research funding from the Fondo di Finanziamento Ordinario.
The Automotive Engineering program, conceived in collaboration with Fiat Group, has been consistently ranked among the top three in Europe for the past ten years.
Alumni
- Guido Chiarelli
- Corradino D'Ascanio
- Carlo De Benedetti
- John Elkann
- Galileo Ferraris
- Vilfredo Pareto
- Francesco Profumo
Professional opportunities
A collegiate chapter of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for IEEE, was established in 2017.