Continuing education in Ticino is expanding its collaboration with the Centro Studi Villa Negroni (CSVN) association at SUPSI. The decision, approved by the Council of State, marks a step towards strengthening coordination between university education, professional development, and the needs of the canton's economic center.
The agreement, signed in July, will formally enter into force on September 1, 2026. The Villa Negroni Study Center will maintain its legal, strategic, organizational, and financial autonomy, but will be integrated into the canton's university policy through a structured relationship with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland.
This is not a true institutional integration, but rather the creation of a stable framework of collaboration between two entities that have been sharing initiatives in the field of continuing education for years.
The Villa Negroni Study Center has been active since 1990, when it was established at the instigation of the Ticino Banking Association. In 2009, it became a foundation and, over the years, has progressively expanded its scope, moving from its original focus on the banking sector to offering services also covering the financial, insurance, and trust sectors.
A relationship that starts from an already consolidated collaboration
The association with SUPSI thus concludes a process already underway. The two institutions have long collaborated in the design and implementation of training activities, including programs for professionals seeking to update or certify their skills.
One example is the TREX program for preparing for the federal exams for Trustee, developed by the SUPSI Tax and Legal Competence Center in collaboration with the CSVN. The program combines accounting, tax, auditing, and legal subjects with content related to trust and economic consultancy.
The new agreement aims to make this collaboration more organic, introducing forms of coordination on both the strategic and operational levels.
The stated goal is to pool skills, experiences, and professional networks, avoiding overlap and promoting the development of training programs that keep pace with the changing labor market.
From traditional finance to new skills
One of the most significant aspects of the agreement concerns its content evolution. The Ticino financial sector is undergoing transformations that affect not only regulation and organizational models, but also technology, sustainability, and the way many professions are performed.
CSVN already offers a wide range of services in various areas, including insurance and pensions, banking and finance, governance, risk and compliance, cross-disciplinary skills, law and taxation, digital finance, and artificial intelligence.
The 2026 training calendar also demonstrates the growing focus on these areas. Among the offerings are courses on artificial intelligence applied to insurance consulting, the use of AI in document review, and governance and accountability profiles related to AI.
Sustainability represents another area where collaboration can develop. The possibility of jointly designing new activities should allow the CSVN's specialized expertise to be linked to that of SUPSI's academic and professional network.
An offer designed for those who work
Continuing education is largely aimed at people already in the professional world. Therefore, the ability to adapt content, duration, and teaching methods to the specific needs of companies is a key element of the agreement.
The CSVN catalog includes structured training courses, individual modules, professional certifications, university certifications, and short-term refresher courses. CAS courses, in particular, can last between 80 and 160 hours and lead to the acquisition of ECTS credits, while seminars, webinars, and workshops offer more targeted refresher courses.
The collaboration with SUPSI should therefore allow us to expand an already diverse offering, while maintaining particular attention to the needs of professionals and businesses.
This issue isn't just about retraining those already in employment. Greater integration between training and the world of work can also impact the region's ability to prepare new professionals, especially in sectors undergoing rapid transformation.
The issue of skills for the financial sector
For Ticino, the report is particularly relevant given the continuing importance of financial services in the cantonal economy. The Villa Negroni Study Center was established specifically to support, through training, the development of professions related to the financial center.
Over the years, its activities have expanded to include a broader range of expertise, including banking, trust, insurance, and legal-financial professions. Its current offering also includes professional and university certifications, refresher courses, and activities aimed at specific professional categories.
The challenge now will be to maintain this specialization while continuing to engage with a university system that encompasses expertise in very diverse fields.
For SUPSI, the advantage lies in the opportunity to strengthen its relationship with the banking and financial sector and receive more timely information on the evolving professional skills required by companies. The goal is to foster a constant connection between labor market transformations and the development of training programs, both in continuing and basic education.
Teachers, collaborators and shared events
The agreement also includes the mutual involvement of faculty and staff. The two institutions will therefore be able to pool their expertise and professionalism in designing educational activities.
The joint development of new training programs and events is also planned. This approach could foster greater dialogue between academia, professionals, and businesses, especially on topics requiring interdisciplinary expertise.
The management of the collaboration will be entrusted to the CSVN Directorate and the SUPSI Directorate of Research, Continuing Education, Development and Knowledge Transfer (RFCST).
Alberto Piatti, Director of RFCST SUPSI, sees the association as a significant step forward in the evolution of the canton's education system. According to Piatti, the collaboration between two already consolidated and complementary entities can contribute to enhancing Ticino's attractiveness and competitiveness in their respective sectors.
Tamara Erez, Director of the Villa Negroni Study Center, emphasizes the potential for impacting the availability of qualified personnel and the attractiveness of banking and finance professions in Ticino.
Autonomy maintained, collaboration more structured
One of the key elements of the agreement concerns the nature of the institutional relationship. The CSVN retains its autonomy and continues to have its own legal, strategic, organizational, and financial structure.
However, membership with SUPSI introduces a new level of coordination. Its inclusion in the canton's university policy places the Study Center within a broader system, in which specialized professional training can engage in a structured dialogue with university activities.
It's a model that focuses less on the fusion of identities and more on complementarity. On the one hand, CSVN's specialization in finance, insurance, and trust professions remains; on the other, SUPSI provides a broader academic and research network.
A collaboration that looks at the transformations of work
The first test will be the ability to translate the agreement into concrete initiatives. The evolution of artificial intelligence, the transition to more sustainable economic models, increased regulatory requirements, and the digital transformation of financial services are rapidly changing the skills required of professionals.
In this context, continuing education isn't just a tool for individual development. It also becomes a key component of regional competitiveness, allowing companies to leverage skills consistent with ongoing transformations.
CSVN's current offerings highlight this direction, with courses that combine traditional financial and legal areas with topics related to artificial intelligence, compliance, and new consulting needs.
The association with SUPSI could therefore represent a further step in building an education system capable of accompanying the evolution of Ticino's economic center.
The new phase starts on September 1st
The agreement is scheduled to enter into force on September 1, 2026. From that date, the new structure of the collaboration between SUPSI and the Villa Negroni Study Center Foundation will take shape.
The key will be to assess how much the new structure will be able to produce in terms of shared proposals, skills transfer, and responses to labor market needs. The starting point is an existing collaboration and two organizations with different but complementary expertise.
For Ticino, the project is part of the broader theme of continuing education and the region's ability to update its professional capital. This is a topic destined to become increasingly important in an economy where digital skills, specialized knowledge, and adaptability are becoming increasingly crucial.
