Ca'Foscari University Of Venice
speciality: History

I study history of art and city like Venice is the perfect place for my studies and interests. The high-quality teaching provided by the University made me choose it again for my Master’s program. The bachelor’s degree in Conservazione dei beni culturali is well structured and it offers general preparation about western art history and a series of complementary subjects such as legislation, museology, literature and so on. The Masters programmes in Storia delle Arti provide specific preparations about an art history period (mediaeval modern and contemporary), with a specific focus on Venetian art history. I find this specialising attitude an extremely valuable way of structuring the program. What I love of Ca’ Foscari is the opportunity to live such a city as your own campus, getting involved in its community, life and culture. Basically I suggest Ca’ Foscari for the high-quality didactic method and preparation, the course structures and the opportunity to live in such a unique environment. Finally, the University is a very dynamic and modern institution in the Italian context and offers a great number of international opportunities such as exchanges and internships.

I have a high opinion of Ca’ Foscari University, especially concerning the quality of education. However, I think that the quality of the facilities is quite poor, i. e. Overcrowded classrooms, old equipment.

Pros:
– Fascinating city, ancient university buildings (but some of them have been sold in the last years and have become hotels)
– Good libraries (some opened until midnight)
– Internationalisation is a strong point
– Digital bureaucracy (you can ask for certificates and other documents through the website)
– Some professors are very good (you can check every CV in the website)

Cons:
– Economics has more funding than humanities, so the educational offer is better in the first case
– Bachelor degree and master degree often offer very the same courses, as they do not have so many professors (it’s a small-medium university)
– As for humanities, they are not paying attention at your future career
– Rooms in Venice are very expensive and very bad; moreover it’s difficult to find one, because of tourism

In my personal experience, the program of the University was very interesting and diverse. The professors I had were all very kind, polite and competent in what they were teaching. The infrastructure of the classrooms is actually very different based on what campus you are in, for example, the economic campus is very modern and well kept, whereas the humanistic one is still quite modern but not as well maintained as the economic one. A very good aspect of university life is the various libraries in the city: they are all amazing, very clean and organized as well as modern and with very good internet connections.
The strong point of Ca’ Foscari is for sure its internationality, it has many different University partners around the world and the Erasmus offer is very good and broad.
The administrative office is quite efficient, it really depends on who you’re in contact with of the staff, but the majority of the employees are very kind and keen to help you if you have any problems.
I can say that overall my experience here was very good, I loved what I studied and the environment around me, of course living in Venice is a plus.

Ca’ Foscari University is certainly one of the most famous in the world – and sure enough, it gives students the benefit of claiming a prestigious name within your education, alongside the experience of studying in a city such as Venice, with its cultural richness and unicity.

I applied to study Art History, specializing in Contemporary Art: even though there are three curricula available, Contemporary Art seems to have few teachers that specialize in the contemporary field – most are from the Modern Arts curricula – and even fewer courses specifically built for such time period.

There are also few exams in general from which you can choose from: I only took a handful of courses, meanwhile the final dissertation is worth the equivalent of half an academic year, in terms of University credits.

I enjoyed my time in Ca’ Foscari, but mostly because of the people: I had a chance to meet students who were as passionate as me about art, and appreciate venetian art in all its glory.

If I had a chance to change the past, I would definitely study in Venice once again; but I would probably choose another course.

The university offers many opportunities to relaunch one’s skills, and true and authentic relationships with young people and companies. Offers for the growth of your training, seminars and preparatory courses to achieve your goals.