The University of Gastronomic Sciences is an international academic institution in northern Italy. The campus is in Pollenzo, near Bra, a city in the north-west region of Piedmont. Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food Movement, established the school as the first university to focus on the organic relationships between food and cultures. More than 1,500 students have taken courses at UNISG since it opened in 2004. UNISG offers a variety of courses leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees in areas related to gastronomy, food cultures and heritage, food ecologies, and food communications. As part of their curriculum, students go on study tours in European countries and other parts of the world.
History
Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, established the international university in 2004 to train students for employment in food and tourism industries, food-related government departments, or food-related journalism. UNISG is the only slow-food university in the world. The school's mission, according to its web site, includes projects that protect biodiversity and build an organic relationship among gastronomy, biological, agricultural and food/nutritional sciences, and social sciences and humanities. It mirrors the mission of the Slow Food movement—which asserts that an understanding of food involves economics, environmental science, history, biology, and anthropology, as well as aesthetics—and is true to the movement's core principles of "good, clean, and fair". Petrini chose the Agenzia di Pollenzo, a 19th-century neo-Gothic palace, for the school's campus. The Savoy royal family built the original structure in 1833 as a summer lodge. A second campus, at Colorno, opened in 2005. It offered master's degrees centered on gastronomic sciences, food culture, and communications. Later in 2011 it merged with the programs at Pollenzo. The Master's degree possibilities had expanded by 2014 to four: Master of Gastronomy-Food in the World, Food Culture, Communication & Marketing, and Wine Culture, Communication & Management. UNISG enrolls 100 students every year in the first year of the BSc program, approx. 40 in the 2-yrs Master's program, and about 100 in the four one-year international Master's programs; in October 2017, the university hosted altogether approx. 500 students from more than 60 countries.
Organization and structure
The university's administration includes a rector, faculty council, board of directors, executive committee, administrative director, board of auditors, evaluation committee, and student representatives, each charged with a set of management duties. The directors, who oversee the administrative and financial management of UNISG, choose the Rector, who directs the school's academic and scientific activities. In 2017, Petrini is the President and Andrea Pieroni, a full professor of ethnobotany, is the Rector. The Rector presides over the faculty council which coordinates planning for UNISG's academic and research activities. In 2017, in addition to the Rector, the council includes all the full and associate professors, one representative of the researchers, and two student representatives.
Campus
The University of Gastronomic Sciences campus is in Pollenzo, a suburb of Bra, Italy. Bra is in the province of Cuneo, about south of Turin. In 1997, the property that includes the campus was one of a group added to the list ofWorld Heritage Sites under the general name, "Residences of the Royal House of Savoy". Listed specifically as Castello di Pollenzo, the property covers and lies within a buffer zone of. The complex includes the Banca del Vino, and the Albergo dell'Agenzia—a hotel with a restaurant—as well as the university. A recent addition to the complex is the Corte Albertina, home to the university's Pollenzo Cookery School. The university's administrative buildings and teaching spaces have been retrofitted to modern standards.
Housing
UNISG students live in Bra. Each furnished, two- or three-person university apartment includes private bedrooms with a shared kitchen and bathroom.
Academics
UNISG offers a three-year undergraduate program leading to a BSc in "Gastronomic Sciences and Cultures" ; a two-years Master's program, entirely taught in English, in "Food Innovation & Management", four one-year full-time Master's programs of 90 credits entirely taught in English and one full-time Master's program of 90 credits taught in Italian: "Master di Ecogastronomia in Cucina". In all courses, students study an integrated mix of humanities, biosciences, and social sciences. In addition to coursework, students are required to attend field-study excursions throughout Europe and the world. During this process of hands-on learning, students meet Slow Food local food communities, local farmers, shepherds, fishermen, food artisans, producers, and experts, who explain the localfood system, a particular product or food tradition, or a production area. The students also stay and visit these territories, observing local and traditional practices and tasting a wide range of regional food and drink. While some courses are taught in English, students are encouraged to have a strong working knowledge of both Italian and English.
Extracurricular activities
UNISG students attend in October the biennial Terra Madre and Salone Del Gusto events in Turin. All students are encouraged to contribute and actively participate in numerous workshops and seminars on topics of interest. Ongoing participation in several food conferences and events, such as the bi-annual Slow Fish in Genova in spring, are also part of the students' extracurricular activities.
