Università degli Studi di Brescia

History

Universita degli Studi di Brescia was established in 1982. It is a non-profit public higher-education institution of roughly 17,000 students, organised into four faculties/macroareas: Medicine and Surgery, Engineering, Economics and Business Administration, and Law.

Academic reputation

In the CENSIS 2025/26 ranking of medium-sized public universities (10,000-20,000 students), Brescia placed 9th of 17, 2nd for graduate employability and 4th for student services. Its visible international rankings (QS, THE, ARWU) are concentrated in Medicine; no engineering- or architecture-specific subject ranking is listed on the university's own ranking page.

Position in Italian architecture education

A small, engineering-oriented university (four faculties total) where Ingegneria Edile-Architettura is one single-cycle programme housed inside a general civil/environmental engineering department, not a dedicated Faculty or School of Architecture.

The architecture school

DICATAM -- Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Architettura, Territorio, Ambiente e di Matematica

DICATAM was formed in 2012 by merging two pre-existing departments: Civil Engineering (founded 1988) and Mathematics (founded 1999). It is one of three departments in the Engineering Macroarea, with roughly 1,300 students across all its programmes.

DICATAM states a "pronounced vocation toward the territory" -- interdisciplinary research combining civil-building engineering, environmental/territorial management, and mathematical-physical sciences, with strong industry/regional collaboration.

Ingegneria Edile-Architettura's exam-commission governance is formally aggregated with the Civil and Environmental Engineering course councils, giving it unusually deep, direct access to structural/geotechnical/hydraulic engineering expertise within DICATAM's broader civil-engineering research base.

Curriculum by programme

What makes it different

The programme's exam-commission governance is formally aggregated with the Civil and Environmental Engineering course councils, and it draws on DICATAM's broader civil-engineering research base -- the clearest, source-backed differentiator versus dedicated-architecture-school LM-4 programmes. The 42-CFU structural block is the largest single characterising area in the credit table, a genuinely distinctive emphasis. A Year-5 elective, 'Design of Seismic Resistant Structures,' is taught in English -- a concrete international/technical touch-point given seismic risk is a live design issue across much of Italy.

Is this university right for you?

A good fit if you: want strong structural-engineering training as the backbone of an architecture degree, are comfortable in a smaller four-faculty university, and want a materially cheaper alternative to Milan.

Less suitable if you: want a dedicated, large-scale architecture school rather than a programme embedded inside a general civil-engineering department.

Student life

Living cost level: Medium

Average single-room rent in Brescia reached EUR519/month in 2025 (6th nationally by price), but this is clearly cheaper than Milan (EUR732), Bologna (EUR632), and Florence (EUR606). Rents rose sharply from roughly EUR399/month a year earlier, driven by rising student demand against a sharp drop in room supply.

Brescia is a mid-sized Lombardy city (roughly 200,000 residents), roughly one hour from Milan by train -- smaller, calmer, and materially cheaper than Milan, the dominant comparison point for prospective architecture students in Northern Italy.

Admission at a glance

For exact seats, dates and fees, see the admissions section above — this is a qualitative summary only.