The Galileo Galilei Italian Institute was inaugurated in December 2007 within the a campus of Chongqing University, People’s Republic of China. The Institute was established thanks to the fruitful cooperation between Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and Chongqing University, officially initialized in December 2004 on the occasion of the visit to China of the then President of the Italian Republic, Mr Ciampi.

Thanks to the support of the Chinese athenaeum, Galileo Galilei Italian Institute has extended its activities, which have been diversifying from the initial task of coordinating the activities undertaken by the School in Chongqing.

Up to present, Galileo Galilei Italian Institute:

• Supports the cooperation projects developed between Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and Chongqing University and the implementation of new ones.
• Organizes, in partnership with Università per Stranieri di Siena, courses of Italian language, also serving as a center for CILS language certification, the first to be opened in the whole South-West of China.
• Promotes the diffusion of Italian culture in Chongqing Municipality, and works together with the Italian Consulate General and the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce in Chongqing, in organizing cultural events which attest the immense tangible and intangible cultural heritage of our country: art, fashion, music, cinema and cookery.
• Eases the enrollment of Chinese students into academic programs of the School, with special regard to Ph.D programs.
• Supports the Doctorate in Business Administration, an international program created in partnership with Chongqing University and Grenoble Ecole de Management, in promoting the activities and offering assistance to the Italian professors coming to Chongqing.
• Provides assistance and consulting for the Chinese delegation going to Italy.
• Provides assistance and consulting for the Italian academic and entrepreneurial delegations coming in the Chongqing area.
• Provides assistance with the creation of joint research and training projects developed with Chongqing University, not only by the School, but also by other Italian athenaeums.
• Organizes research seminars, under the name of “China through the Telescope”.
• Offers an internship scouting service for students of the School: on March 30, the Rector Pierdomenico Perata in visit to Chongqing signed various traineeship agreements with the Italian Consulate General in Chongqing, the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce – Chongqing office, and the Sino-Italian joint venture Saic Iveco Hongyan.
• Promotes networking activities for the Italian community in Chongqing.

The Institute is headed by Professor Alberto Di Minin, Full Professor of the Institute of Management and Italian Director of the Confucius Institute in Pisa.