Temple Rome will host a virtual and in-person open house for students and families interested in attending the campus in the fall when it begins offering four-year bachelor’s degrees. 

The university expects these new offerings will increase the campus’s enrollment from both international and American students.

Students will be able to choose between thirteen undergraduate programs in the Fox School of Business, Klein College of Media and Communication and the College of Liberal Arts this Fall. Five additional programs in the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management and the College of Science and Technology will start in the 2027-28 academic year. 

Emilia Zankina, Temple Rome’s dean, expects a larger turnout for this year’s “Open Days” due to the new degree programs. 

“The news about our four-year-degree program has really sparked interest locally and also in the U.S. and internationally,” Zankina said. “We just opened our application portal a few days ago, and we already have seven deposits, so we’re very excited about that.” 

The campus has Open Days during the spring semester on Feb. 10 and April 18. This is the second year that Temple Rome will host the events. 

Temple Rome has principally served Temple students and students from 40 different colleges who want to study abroad for a semester or take their first academic year through the Temple Rome Entry Year Program. But through the new degree programs, the campus will serve as a four-year home for students who wish to stay in Rome. 

Zankina has been considering adding four-year programs since 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic put her plans on hold.  

“We just believe that there is a demand,” Zankina said. “And the second reason is that we have quite an extensive curriculum here in a number of disciplines, and to add the courses needed and the resources needed to offer a full four-year degree really doesn’t take that much.” 

These programs aim to attract international students who wish to study closer to home or are unable to visit the U.S. due to visa unavailability, Zankina said. 

Temple’s Global Engagement office has also noticed increased interest in Temple Rome from the Middle East and North Africa. 

Temple Rome’s decision to offer four-year degrees and expand its curriculum follows the model set forth by Temple Japan, which has undergraduate degree programs for twelve majors. TUJ added two four-year degree programs in computer science and tourism and hospitality management in 2023. 

“By offering a four-year degree program, Temple is creating a space where students can really grow personally and academically over time,” said Giovanna Agostini, an Italian language professor at Temple Rome. “And not just be tourists and not just visit Rome, but also truly belong here as part of a community, a global community.” 

Temple Rome’s expansion will also offer more courses for single-semester study abroad students.  

The campus’s fall curriculum will offer new courses in cybersecurity and human behavior, natural sciences with biology concentration, entrepreneurship and innovation management and tourism, hospitality and event management.   

The Rome program, which will celebrate its 60^th anniversary in 2026, moved the campus to Piazza di Spagna in 2024. In Janurary 2025, it opened a 50-bed residence hall for first-year students in one wing of the building at Via di San Sebastianello 16. Zankina expects they’ll have enough facilities if enrollment numbers increase.  

“This dormitory can be converted into academic space,” Zankina said. “Classrooms, common spaces for students and offices, as we see numbers increase.” 

Temple Rome also opened new art studios at Spazio Fontana on Dec. 17, across the street from the main building. The studios serve as a space for art classes and exhibitions. 

The university expected more than 300 students to enroll at the Rome campus in the spring. 

Gianna Conforti, a sophomore early childhood education major, studied at the Rome campus in the fall. She isn’t able to complete her degree in Rome but is excited for those who can. 

“I wish [the four-year-degrees] came out earlier so I could have done a different major and gone there instead,” Conforti said. “I might have considered it.” 

Article: https://temple-news.com/temple-rome-to-offer-four-year-degrees/