Mission, vision and strategies

In the three-year period 2025–2027, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma (UNINT) embarks on a paradigm shift: from a university firmly rooted in the social sciences and humanities, a keen observer of technological transformations, to an active, conscious, and forward-thinking protagonist, capable of using, governing, and innovating emerging technologies thanks to the constant focus on people and the development of their human skills.

This evolution is not a mere adaptation, but a strategic choice rooted in the University's core identity. UNINT aims to contribute to building a future in which knowledge is not subordinated to technology, but becomes its conscious, critical, and generative guide, grounded in openness, justice, and inclusion.

This vision is shaped by four closely integrated cultural pillars: the centrality of the humanities and languages, understood as tools for openness and intercultural dialogue, vehicle for empathy, and a key to understanding the world; an understanding of economic and managerial phenomena, approached from an international, digital, and sustainable perspective, with a focus on equity and responsibility; critical reflection on political, social, and security issues, in response to global challenges in an increasingly interconnected and vulnerable context; and the psychological and formative dimension, which recognises education as an intentional process of holistic human personal development, encompassing cognitive, relational, emotional, and civic dimensions.

These pillars do not operate separately, but rather reinforce each other, generating an integrated vision of the university, capable of shaping individuals who are aware, curious, competent, and responsible.

In this perspective, language is reaffirmed as humanity's primary technology: it enables us to think, narrate, build relationships, negotiate meanings, develop critical thinking and a sense of belonging. Speaking and listening to the languages of the world ​​means consciously embracing pluralism, promoting coexistence, and overcoming barriers.
Alongside language, teaching plays a central role: not merely a method or transmission of content, but a cultural and civic choice, which makes the university a space where each person is recognised in their unique value, and every educational relationship becomes an opportunity for mutual growth.

UNINT believes in the value of exposure as an educational lever: growth does not arise from comfort, but from openness to new, complex, and sometimes initially uncomfortable experiences that are ultimately transformative. Studying abroad, participating in international programmes, collaborating with students from other cultures, undertaking internships in real-world settings, experimenting with new technologies or interdisciplinary projects are experiences that expand mental horizons, develop transversal skills, and prepare students to face an uncertain yet opportunity-rich future. 

For UNINT, internationalisation is not a privilege reserved for the few, but a structural dimension of everyone's journey, including through internationalisation-at-home initiatives that bring the world into the University. Exposing the entire academic community to cultural, professional and technological diversity is an essential part of our approach to education and our identity as a university.

In an era where digital technologies —from artificial intelligence to blockchain, from big data to immersive reality—become cognitive, relational, and decision-making environments that shape the way we live, learn, and think, it is not enough to know them or know how to use them: we need to understand them thoroughly, guide them according to shared values, regulate them responsibly, and, when necessary, transform them to serve humanity.

UNINT meets this challenge by placing the person at the centre. Only by placing human skills at the centre—language, reflection, imagination, educational sensitivity, social responsibility—is it possible to govern a future that is evolving with increasing speed and complexity. To put this approach into practice, UNINT will act along three fundamental strategic axes.

The first axis is that of future-oriented didactics,through the redesign of the educational offering to integrate humanistic, linguistic, economic, political, pedagogical, and digital knowledge, using active methodologies, workshops, micro-credentials, project work, simulations, and international mobility for personalised, inclusive, and transformative learning.

The second axis is that of research with impact and vision, interdisciplinary, rigorous research connected to major contemporary issues, capable of generating scientific, social, and institutional value. Digital technologies will be both subjects of inquiry and interpretative lenses, as well as epistemological and political challenges to be addressed with an integrated approach and ethical vision.

The third axis is the promotion of a caring, inclusive, and cooperative academic community, capable of caring for its members and engaging actively with the external world. The third mission will be strengthened as a tool for transferring knowledge, building alliances, responding to local needs, and fostering social proximity. Throughout this journey, language in all its forms (linguistic, symbolic, pedagogical, and relational) will remain our guide. In a world marked by polarisation and automatic decision-making, language remains the primary space for freedom, interpretation, and the shared construction of meaning.

Educating in language means educating in peace, responsibility, and otherness. It means shaping people capable of navigating complexity, building bridges between knowledge, cultures, and generations, and acting with awareness, discernment, and vision in the real world.

These axes are deeply permeated by the essential values ​​of internationalisation, quality, accessibility and transparency, the backbone of our value architecture. These principles not only guide our actions, but translate into a widespread network of services, founded on a virtuous synergy between human resources and physical and digital infrastructures, the essential backbone and driving force of our identity, in constant dialogue between tradition and innovation.

UNINT does not chase technologies: it explores, questions and governs them. It places them at the service of the individual, of culture, of society. And it does so with the strength of a community small in scale but large in ambition, vision, and coherence. We have both the duty and the opportunity to lead this transition. The time ahead is a time to inhabit, not to endure. And UNINT is ready to embrace this challenge.