[8] With forty lecturers and twenty-five design studios (including Mario Botta, Massimo Carmassi, Valerio Olgiati), the Accademia di architettura trains an overall of 764 students for 3-year Bachelor and 2-year master's degrees (2013).

[9] Main research and teaching topics include: Banking, Finance, Management, Economics and International Policies, Financial Communication, Marketing.

It is directed by Kevin Mulligan and some of its teaching professors are Francesco Berto, Tim Crane, Paolo Crivelli, Katalin Farkas, Kit Fine, Kathrin Koslicki, John Marenbon, Anna Marmodoro, Tim Maudlin, Martine Nida-Rümelin, Pasquale Porro, Thomas Sattig, Peter Simons, Barry Smith and Achille Varzi.

Students are expected to learn about a wide variety of topics, from big O notation and calculus, through networking protocols and layers, to computer architecture.

[citation needed] The Institute of Computational Science (ICS), a research unit of the Faculty, was founded in 2008 and is directed by Professor Rolf Krause.

With the ratification by the Ticino government of the decision of their respective councils, the Faculty of Theology Lugano (FTL) will be academically integrated into Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).

The FTL's proximity to USI - strengthened over the years through the sharing of training programmes, research and academic procedures - led to the decision to move closer on the institutional level as well, and foster further synergies in the future.

Bachelor study curricula are offered in five disciplines: Architecture, Communication Sciences, Economics, Informatics and Italian Language, Literature and Civilisation.

Doctoral schools are at the heart of research conducted at USI and are offered in Finance, Communication Sciences, Philosophy, Informatics, Architecture, Economics, Immunology, Drug design, and Cancer Biology and Oncology Università della Svizzera italiana confers, since 2003, honorary degrees to distinguished academics during its annual Dies academicus, including Robert F. Engle (Economics), Jimmy Wales (Communication Sciences), Barbara H. Liskov (Informatics), Mimmo Paladino (Architecture), and many others.

[27] The immediate predecessor to the current USI was the project that began in 1970 for an institute of higher-education focused on post-graduate continuing education and based on Regional Science and on the Humanities titled Centro Universitario della Svizzera Italiana (CUSI).

However, although a bill about CUSI was passed by the Grand Council on 11 December 1985, a committee led by Augusto Bolla and UDC deputy Giovanni Maria Staffieri launched a referendum against it.

This controversial result was received by public institutions in Ticino as a threat to the hopes for the development of higher education outside of the German and French speaking regions.

[28] Following the defeat of CUSI, several new groups and institutions at different levels of government and civil society began formulating alternative proposals for a university based in Ticino.

[29] Cotti's speech echoed the manifesto that a group of politicians, scholars, and professionals published on 30 May 1990 on Libera Stampa, the newspaper of the Socialist Party.

[30] At the Federal level, in 1992 the ETH Board commissioned architect Mario Botta to draft a project for a national academy of architecture, which however would not be approved.

In the same year the Council of State of the Canton Ticino approved dispatch n° 4308 pertaining the Bill for the Università della Svizzera italiana, which in twelve articles outlined the structure of the future institution, to be built around the Accademia di Architettura and with the contribution of private financing.

On Tuesday 3 October 1995, at 19:11, the Grand Council of Ticino approved the bill that established USI, with seventy-three of eighty favorable votes.

Mauro Dell'Ambrogio, who was the author of the bill, and who thus had previously played an important role on the side of Giuseppe Buffi - the Ticino Councilor of State at the head of the Dipartimento dell'Istruzione e della Cultura (Department of Education) - was appointed to serve as USI's first General Secretary.

The main building consists of four floors containing: Communications and Economics offices (1-3), the Executive Centre, four computer labs (1), classrooms (1-3), the cafeteria (2)(Q1-2007), and third-floor auditorium (3)(Q3-2007).

The modern-looking concrete and metal Informatics building finished in 2007 contains classrooms (1), offices and study areas reserved for CS students and mentors (2-3).The Aula Magna is the university's convention hall and capable of seating around 400 people; it is used to host university conferences, speeches, and other public or private events; solely the entrance to the hall is visible above ground.