(AGI) Rome, Mar 2 - Ambassador Vincenzo Schioppa has been appointed as Secretary General of the European University Institute (EUI), based in Florence. After serving in South Africa and in Libya, the ambassador will now step into Pasquale Ferrara's position, leading the Institute which was created 40 years ago by the six founding countries of the European Union, now sponsored by 21 member States and the European Commission. The EUI boasts world excellence in higher education, with PhD programmes and specialisations offered in Economics, History, Law, Political and Social Sciences. It collaborates with top research centres renowned for their interdisciplinary offerings, like the Schumann Center and the Max Weber Programme. It hosts the historic archives of the European Union and of the Court of Justice, located in the splendid Villa Salviati, made available by Italy, as well as other prestigious historic buildings in Florence and Fiesole. The Institute is staffed by a community of over 1000 people, including faculty members, researchers and employees from sixty different countries, creating one of the most vibrant intellectual atmospheres in Europe and in the world. (AGI). .