In 1974 a group of entrepreneurs led by Umberto Agnelli (the brother of Gianni Agnelli, who at the time was president of Confindustria), launched a project investing economic and intellectual resources in the establishment of a university. This university would be designed to offer undergraduate and post-graduate education that is geared towards the needs of the market.
Luiss came out of a pre-existing university, (Pro Deo University, founded in 1966), which was redesigned and renamed Luiss (an acronym for Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, which means “Free International University of Social Studies”) in 1977. Eventually, other public and private industrial groups, as well as some banks, joined the founders.
The group of businessmen and bankers who had promoted and financed the birth of the project, as well as the transformation of the organization of the old Pro Deo University, into the more modern ones of Luiss University, as it is today, was established in 1985 in the current “Friends of Luiss”. This has had since its inception the Senator Umberto Agnelli as its president, who was then succeeded by Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone (still in office), and plays a vital role in the collection and distribution of economic resources to be allocated to provide scholarships for students who have enormous potential but a lack of economic resources, and to ensure that the most brilliant Luiss graduates have the possibility of earning PhDs to dedicate themselves to scientific research with a view to an academic career or advanced professional activities.
Guido Carli, former Governor of the Banca d’Italia, President of Confindustria and later Senator was President of Luiss from 1978 until his death in 1993. His work was so highly esteemed that in 1994 the university changed its name to Luiss Guido Carli.
Originally the university had only the faculties of Economics and Political Science, to which was added the faculty of Law in 1982. In 2011 an academic reorganization took place, which resulted in today’s four Departments: Law, Business and Management, Economics and Finance, and Political Science. Today the university offers many courses entirely taught in English, such as ‘Economics & Business’ or ‘Politics, Philosophy and Economics’.
Francesco Giorgino (RAI Conductor)
Giuliano Amato (jurist, politician, former Prime Minister of Italy)
Dario Antiseri (philosopher)
Daniele Archibugi (economist)
Fabiano Schivardi (economist)
Fabrizio Cacciafesta (mathematician)
Matteo Arpe (banker, former CEO of Capitalia)
Antonio Baldassarre (former President of the Constitutional Court of Italy, President of SISAL and RAI)
Giuseppe Conte (former Prime Minister of Italy)
Vincenzo Caianiello (former President of the Constitutional Court of Italy, jurist, magistrate and politician)
Lucio Caracciolo (geopolitical analyst)
Antonio Catricalà (jurist)
Pier Luigi Celli (writer, entrepreneur, manager)
Fulvio Conti (CEO and general manager of ENEL)
Roberto D'Alimonte (political analyst)
Vincenzo Fagiolo (cardinal)
Fabio Fortuna (economist)
Augusto Fantozzi (former Minister of Finance)
Domenico Fisichella (political analyst, then Senator, Minister of Culture, Vice President of the Senate)
Giovanni Maria Flick (former President of the Constitutional Court of Italy)
Franco Fontana (President of Cassa di Risparmio della Provincia dell'Aquila and chairman of the board of Statutory Auditors at ENEL)
Enrico Giovannini (economist, statistician and former Minister of Labour)
David Held (political analyst, philosopher)
Antonio Martino (economist, politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense)
Daniele Mastrogiacomo (journalist)
Giuseppe Mazzei (journalist)
Carlo Mezzanotte (Vice President Emeritus of the Constitutional Court of Italy)
Andrea Monorchio (economist and accountant general of the State)
Fiamma Nirenstein (journalist and politician)
Giovanni Orsina (historian, scientific editor of the Luigi Einaudi Foundation, Rome)
Alessandro Pajno (magistrate, President of the Council of State)
Luciano Pellicani (sociologist and journalist)
Pietro Perlingieri (jurist and university professor)
Mario Pescante (entrepreneur and politician)
Roberto Pessi (labor law expert and lawyer)
Francesco Pizzetti (jurist, President of the Authority to Guarantee Privacy)
Gianni Profita (economist)
Gaetano Quagliariello (politician, former Minister for Constitutional Reform)
Giuseppe Pizza (politician and Undersecretary of Public Education, Universities and Scientific Research)
Pietro Reichlin (economist, brother of Lucrezia Reichlin)
Gian Luigi Rondi (critic)
Giuseppe Sacco (economist, columnist)
Paolo Savona (economist, former Minister of Industry, President of Unicredit Bank of Rome)
Carlo Scognamiglio (former President of the Senate, Minister of Defense, Honorary President of the Italian Aspen Institute and of the Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera publishing group)
Vincenzo Scotti (politician, Minister of the Interior and Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs)
Paola Severino (jurist, former Minister of Justice)
Chicco Testa (entrepreneur)
Sergio Vento (diplomat)
Vincenzo Visco (former Minister of Finance and Vice Minister of Economy)
Victor Zaslavsky (historian)