Sapienza University and Lviv Polytechnic National University (LPNU) have signed a collaboration agreement for cooperation in scientific research and academic staff and student exchanges. The agreement was signed online on March 16, 2022, due to the current war in Ukraine.

"Our community intends to send a precise message to such an illustrious academic institution – said Rector Polimeni - a message of solidarity, friendship and collaboration. Science, culture and university education are decisive factors in defeating all forms of national selfishness, prevarication and intolerance. The Academy, therefore, in the forms and areas of its own competence, places itself with determination and generosity at the service of peace. And Sapienza intends to play its part to the full".

The current agreement is the result of intense work that began in 2021 with a meeting between our Universities organised by the Faculty of Law of Sapienza in the presence of the Ukrainian delegation and continued with subsequent visits and exchanges of information, unaware of what would happen about 20 days ago. Since it was impossible to sign the agreement in Lviv, as initially planned, the two Rectors signed it online, simultaneously, on March 16, at 1 pm Italian time (2 pm in Ukraine). Online from Lviv were Rector Yuriy Bobalo, Vice-Rector for Education and International Relations Nataliya Chukraj and the Centre of Italian Studies director, Orest Vasylko. In Sapienza's Senate Hall were Rector Antonella Polimeni, Deputy Rector for International Affairs Bruno Botta and the Dean of the Faculty of Law Oliviero Diliberto.

The Polytechnic, founded in 1816, is among the oldest and most distinguished academic institutions in Ukraine and one of the most prestigious in Eastern Europe. It hosted Marie Sklodowska Curie and Stefan Banach, among many others, during its prestigious history.