The University of Parma is a State University. As such, it is self-governing and has administrative, organisational, and accountancy autonomy, providing services to the general public. On 13th March 962, Emperor Ottonian I conferred on Uberto, the Bishop of Parma, the initiation of the University in the ‘Diploma’ – a document which granted the Bishop the power to order and elect legal leaders (‘eligere et ordinare notarios’). This document was the foundation of creating an educational institution that would last centuries later, and is still preserved in the Bishop’s Archives in Parma today.