University Carlo Cattaneo

It was founded in 1991 by around 300 entrepreneurs, as a joint venture between Italian corporations who provided the initial funding and continued to provide support and guidance under the seal of the Industrial Association of the Province of Varese (UNIVA). The university, housed in a restored nineteenth-century cotton mill, is organised into three Faculties (Business & Economics, Business Law and Management Engineering). The university is named after Carlo Cattaneo, a nineteenth-century local thinker and economist.

Evolution of course offerings:

In 1991, the university opened with an incoming class for the Bachelor of Business Administration (Economia Aziendale).

In 1994, a diploma in Engineering Management was offered.

In 1998, the bachelor's program in Business Law was introduced.

It is one of the three Italian universities (together with SDA Bocconi and Università Cattolica) which are part of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness's network teaching Michael Porter's Microeconomics of Competitiveness graduate class. In 2015, the Italian economic newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore placed LIUC university as the third best private economic school in Italy by didactics, and fifth, taking into account also research.

However, the university is not ranked among "QS Top Universities".