Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli

LUISS

Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli
Type	Private
Established	1974
President
Rector	Paola Severino
Director	Giovanni Lo Storto
Administrative staff	1,290 (2009)
Students	7,682 (2015)
Address	Viale Pola, 12, Rome, I-00189, Italy
Sports teams	Luiss Sport (http://www.luiss.it/sport/)
Website	http://www.luiss.edu/

The Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali "Guido Carli" (Italian for Free International University for Social Studies "Guido Carli"), known by the acronym "LUISS", is an independent, private university in Rome, Italy, founded in 1974 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Umberto Agnelli, brother of Gianni Agnelli.

LUISS provides undergraduate and post-graduate education, in addition to a range of Double Degree programs, in the fields of finance, business, management, law and political science. It is considered one of the most important and prestigious institutions of higher education in Italy. It is located near the historical center of the city, between the neighborhoods of Parioli and . The university is supported by Confindustria, the Italian confederation of industries.

In 1974 a group of entrepreneurs led by Umberto Agnelli (the brother of Gianni Agnelli, who at the time was president of Confindustria), launched a project investing economic and intellectual resources in the establishment of a university. This university would be designed to offer undergraduate and post-graduate education that is geared towards the needs of the market.

LUISS came out of a pre-existing university, (Pro Deo University, founded in 1966), which was redesigned and renamed LUISS (an acronym for Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, which means "Free International University of Social Studies") in 1977. Eventually, other public and private industrial groups, as well as some banks, joined the founders.

The group of businessmen and bankers who had promoted and financed the birth of the project, as well as the transformation of the organization of the old Pro Deo University, into the more modern ones of LUISS University, as it is today, was established in 1985 in the current “Friends of LUISS”. This has had since its inception the Senator Umberto Agnelli as its president, who was then succeeded by Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone (still in office), and plays a vital role in the collection and distribution of economic resources to be allocated to provide scholarships for students who have enormous potential but a lack of economic resources, and to ensure that the most brilliant LUISS graduates have the possibility of earning PhDs to dedicate themselves to scientific research with a view to an academic career or advanced professional activities.