Located in one of the most beautiful spots in Italy - the hills overlooking Florence - the site on which the European University Institute is located enjoys links with Ireland stretching back 1,000 years. The university is housed in the Badia Fiesolana, the original site of the cathedral of Fiesole. In the ninth century, an Irishman, St Donatus, was the local bishop there.
Today, another Irishman, Dr Paddy Masterson, a former president of UCD, heads up the university, which operates at postgraduate level only.
Library staff include Emir Lawless and Peter Kennedy, while UCD graduate Professor Graine de Burca is a faculty member.
The institute was founded in 1976. "The founding fathers of the European Union decided there should be some cultural heart to Europe," explains Masterson.
"After 25 years' debate, it was decided to establish an institution which would examine the social and economic development of Europe at postgraduate level."
The university is funded by the governments of the member states of the EU. Ireland, notes Masterson, contributes only half of one per cent of the total. Major contributors include Britain, France, Germany and Italy. They each donate 18 per cent of total funding. One fifth of the institute's budget is awarded in the shape of research grants.
The European University Institute offers doctoral programmes in law, economics, social and political science and history.
"We operate the largest doctoral programme in the social sciences in Europe," Masterson notes.
Some 85 doctorates are defended each year. Masterson's colleagues point to the fact that this figure has doubled during his presidency. Law is one of the university's greatest strengths - the law of deregulation, competition law and human rights law in particular. Much of the work involves legal reform, Masterson explains. In the field of social and political science, issues of political integration and the welfare state are to the fore. In economics, development and labour economics are central. "It's a mixture of highly theoretical, policy and applied work," Masterson comments. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the European University Institute boasts the main chair in Europe on the history of European integration - under Professor Alan Millward.
The EUI's Robert Schuman Centre, an interdisciplinary research centre, was established in 1993 to promote research on the major issues confronting European society. The centre boasts Jean Monnet fellows, appointed for up to two years, short-term visiting professors and international networks.
One of the great advantages of studying at the institute is the fact that the student body is made up of graduates from all the member states, Masterson notes.
"It's makes comparative studies much easier - students know what's going on in their own countries."
EU graduates pay no fees and receive their three-year funding from a mixture of government and European Union grants, to the tune of around £10,000 annually.
Most students come to the EUI with masters' degrees. Law students, however, usually have only a primary degree. Almost two-thirds of EUI graduates take up posts in academia. "The rest join international organisations or go into international law, politics or publishing."
The EUI has a beneficial effect on students, Masterson believes. "People come here with their own ideas of how things should be done. Here, they learn that there are other ways of doing things, and we see them growing to appreciate other points of view.
"They build up habits of tolerance and open-mindedness and working to take other ideas on board. That's the real value of coming here."
The university's working languages are English and French, but students have the opportunity to acquire Spanish, Italian or German. "People are expected to have an ability in modern European languages - other than their mother-tongue. When they come here, they spend their first month in a language-initiation programme and they usually continue with one language during the academic year."
THE ACADEMIC FACULTY includes 50 professors from all over the world, who come to Florence on four-year contracts, which may be renewed only once.
Each year, professors are required to submit research proposals to a research review committee of eminent academics. This council conducts an annual in-depth analysis of departments on a rotating basis.
"A province of the mind", is how EUI's principal, Masterson, describes his institution. "It's located in Italy, but is not an Italian university. It has become a place that is recognised as being a focus for independent European research. We don't toe the Brussels party line."
