An international vocation since its foundation

Among the very first 25 students of 1978, a Somali student of Economics and a girl from Cervia (Barbara Casadei): the latter will benefit from one of the first postgraduate scholarships promoted by the College, starting from which she will collect a series of records: she will be the first Full Professor (female) of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford and the first woman to be elected President of the European Society of Cardiology.

In Europe before Erasmus

1981, a turning point year: the signing of the first exchange with the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the College's launch of a policy to encourage international mobility, with the establishment of   scholarships for abroad. Since then, there have been over 200 foreign offices where the Nuovine have gone to study, do research and participate in meetings.

In 1992 it was the turn of the agreement with the prestigious Heidelberg University, member of the Coimbra Group. The Internationaler Ferienkurs is an opportunity in Heidelberg which the students are still fond of: they learn German with students from all over the world, after practicing it at Collegio Nuovo also with visiting students from Germany.

The partnership with New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) in Cambridge which led some Alumni to settle in UK, others to work in international contexts, has been active for 15 years. Alumnae who had this chance provide a network that allows many students to program study and internship experiences across the Channel and beyond.

The Collegio Nuovo leaps over the millennium with the opening of the Graduate Residence, where many visiting scholars and professors from all over the world enrich the collegiate community, together with over 500 international guest students from the foundation to today.

The network with colleges from the United States to Japan

The College is among the first institutions involved in female education in Europe, and the only one in Italy, to be invited to join the network Women's Education Worldwide since its establishment (2003), later also joining the Executive Committee. All this happened also thanks to the invitation of the founding Colleges of the network, Mount Holyoke e Smith College: both will involve the Collegio Nuovo in the activities of the Women in Public Service Project launched by Hillary Clinton. The Collegio Nuovo itself will be the promoter of two major initiatives, both for Presidents and Deans (2008) and for female students (2011) who will bring to the College delegations from all continents.

A network, that of WEW, which also with the contribution of some Alumnae, opens the doors to a series of formal agreements: from Barnard College – Columbia University in New York(2008), particularly notable thanks to the possibility of attending the Spring Semesterin NY to Ochanomizu University in Tokyo (2013) which did not stop its international activities even during the pandemic and continues to offer its International Summer School as well as participating in initiatives at the Collegio Nuovo, such as the Winter Schoolon female leadership. From 2021 it is also active GID – Global Intercultural Dialogue which promotes periodic online meetings between female students from all over the world discussing on strategic current and educational topics.

An openness to the world, in the new millennium, which has brought the students to the Emirates (Dubai Women's College) and in Australia (The Women's College – The University of Sydney) without forgetting to rediscover the richness of our Europe: since 2008 the experiences of teamwork activities grow thanks also to EucA – European University College Association with many students involved in study tours from London to Madrid and Lisbon, from Prague and Budapest to Amsterdam and Bonn, from Rome to Brussels, but also overseas thanks to the partnership of the European network with IASAS.

Gain experience, all over the world

To give the students the opportunity to take research internships at Harvard and at Pasteur in Paris two other agreements were signed: with the Giovanni Armenise – Harvard Foundation (2017) and with the Pasteur Institute (2019)

The Alumnae network is also strategic and has been providing research internships for several years at Miami University Medical School,Yale and New York University, as well as internships in humanities at University of Ghent (with which a Spring School is also organized in the College): all opportunities often supported by the mentoring of the Alumnae and by scholarships from the College and the Alumnae Association.