Sedi e strutture
Esplora le nostre sedi e spazi, progettati per supportare studio e ricerca.
Who we are
The Kore University of Enna is one of the largest and most structured among the 20 independent residential universities operating in Italy. After the Cattolica and Bocconi universities in Milan, Kore has the highest number of tenured professors but stands out in Italy above all for the breadth and complexity of its academic offerings, ranging from Industrial, Civil, and Computer Engineering to Economics, from Literature to Psychology, from Law to Social Work and Criminology, from Sports Sciences to Political Science, from Foreign Languages to Education Sciences, up to Medicine and Surgery and degree courses for healthcare professions.
The official acronym of the university is UKE (Università Kore di Enna). The full name is Libera Università degli Studi di Enna “Kore”.
UKE was established in 2005 by the Minister of University and Research through decree no. 116 of May 5, 2005, published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic no. 110 of May 13, 2005.
The Kore University of Enna is not dependent on any public entity; its ownership is entirely private and is overseen by the Foundation for the Independent Kore University of Enna, a non-profit organization.
The Kore University of Enna is a higher education and research institution dedicated to deepening, developing, transmitting, and subjecting scientific and methodological knowledge in all its fields of operation to continuous scientific research innovation, the challenges of technology transfer, and social impact. Its goal is to ensure the best cultural and professional preparation for new generations, enabling them to develop critical thinking, awareness, and the ability to analyze, adapt, and be flexible.
UKE aspires to be a university open to the future, to innovation, and projected towards international horizons, capable of meeting the most ambitious expectations of young students, especially Sicilian youth who leave Sicily in search of organization, quality, attentiveness, involvement, greater respect for individual differences, and new cultural sensitivities.
Indeed, UKE aims to position itself as a university particularly attentive to students’ perspectives and their involvement in the design and evaluation of support services for academic success. It is committed to the continuous improvement of quality, efficiency, and effectiveness, particularly in ensuring alignment between expected quality, delivered quality, and perceived quality.
Why UKE
UKE, Kore University of Enna, is a legally recognized non-state university, authorized to issue academic qualifications, with legal value, of Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, Master first and second level, Doctorate of Research, Medical Specializations, as well as for the legal professions and for teaching.
5Departments
22Academic courses
9Locations and facilities
4Research centers
Between Myth and Identity
When astronomy was less of a science and more of a mythical creation, the manifestations of nature were attributed to the whims, struggles, desires, and pleasures of the gods. In those times, long before the birth of Christ, much of the Mediterranean believed that the alternation of the seasons was linked to the myth of a maiden goddess who spent six months on the earth’s surface and six months underground.
This maiden goddess was Kore, daughter of the goddess Demeter or Ceres (Ceres in Latin and in all other widely spoken languages). According to the myth, Kore—while picking flowers near Enna, on the shores of Lake Pergusa—was abducted by the god Hades or Pluto and taken to his kingdom of the dead. The wrath of Ceres caused the fields to stop blooming and the annual harvests to cease, including the cereals, which bore her name. Thus, spring and summer disappeared.
In Greco-Roman mythology, the task of resolving conflicts between the gods belonged to Jupiter, who established a compromise: Kore would spend six months with Pluto and six months with her mother Demeter.
Since then, throughout the Mediterranean, in Sicily, and especially in Enna, the seasons alternate—not four, because too much detail was unnecessary—but two: The true season, which coincides with Kore’s return to the earth. Winter, which signifies her absence.
When the Province of Enna—the institution that launched the idea of founding a new university in Sicily in 1995—determined that the project could become a reality, it first considered, as is customary in such cases, its official emblem, which depicts none other than the goddess Ceres. Central Sicily has always been the land of wheat, producing some of the finest grain in the world. And since the university that was about to be born was, in its conceptual origins, a “daughter” of the Province of Ceres, it was given the name Kore.
However, Kore is more than just a name—it is a goddess and an idea of spring, rebirth, and the growing phase of the life cycle. The name Kore was chosen over Persephone, Proserpina, or Libera—all names associated with the same mythical figure—because it has broader cultural resonance. It reflects the civilizations on both shores of the Mediterranean, from north to south, from west to east, better than any other name from the myth. It embodies the infinite paths of research, knowledge, and cultural exchange.
The original project that preceded the founding of the Kore University of Enna in 2005 began with a decentralized campus of the University of Palermo, later joined by the University of Catania and finally the University of Messina. This initiative was launched in 1995 with the decisive support of the Province of Enna and several municipalities in central Sicily.
Through this decentralized campus, Enna’s potential as a university center for study and research was successfully tested, thanks to its geographical centrality within Sicily and a clear, well-structured development plan.
After an initial temporary location in Enna Alta, the Enna university campus began operating at the new University Citadel in Enna Bassa, housed in buildings owned by the Province, which were later purchased by Kore University with its own funds. The first pavilion was inaugurated on March 3, 1999, in the presence of President of the Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.
From this success, the idea emerged to create a foundation tasked with planning, proposing, and ultimately supporting the establishment of an autonomous university in Enna. This was officially approved by the Ministry of University and Research through Decree No. 284 of September 15, 2004, as part of the three-year development plan for the Italian university system (2003-2005).
The birth of Sicily’s fourth university, newly decreed, was formally recognized by President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who visited it on November 17, 2004, meeting with students.
In May of the following year, just ten years after the activation of the original decentralized campus, the Kore University of Enna received formal recognition and authorization to issue legally valid academic degrees through Ministerial Decree No. 116 of May 5, 2005, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic No. 110 of May 13, 2005.
Another President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, inaugurated the Biology Teaching Laboratories at the Faculty of Medicine on December 10, 2021—the most recent departmental facility established at the Kore University of Enna.
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