Luiss University (Italian: Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, lit. 'Guido Carli Free International University of Social Studies') is a private university located in Rome, Italy, founded in 1974 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Umberto Agnelli.

It provides undergraduate and postgraduate education, in addition to a range of Double Degree programs, in the fields of finance, business, management, economics, law, and political science. It is located near the historical center of the city, between the neighborhoods of Parioli and Trieste. The university is supported by Confindustria, the Italian Confederation of Industries. Luiss has four different campuses: one in Viale Romania, one in Via Parenzo, one in Villa Blanc, and the last one in Viale Pola. It also has a library in Via Santa Costanza.

In 1974, a group of entrepreneurs led by Umberto Agnelli (the brother of Gianni Agnelli, who at the time was president of Confindustria), launched a project investing economic and intellectual resources in the establishment of a university. This university would be designed to offer undergraduate and postgraduate education that is geared toward the needs of the market.

Luiss came out of a pre-existing university (Pro Deo University, founded in 1966), which was redesigned and renamed Luiss (an acronym for Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, which means "Free International University of Social Studies") in 1977. Eventually, other public and private industrial groups, as well as some banks, joined the founders.

The group of businessmen and bankers who had promoted and financed the birth of the project, as well as the transformation of the organization of the old Pro Deo University, into the more modern ones of Luiss University, as it is today, was established in 1985 in the current "Friends of Luiss". From its inception Senator Umberto Agnelli acted as its president. He was succeeded by Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone (still in office), who is central to the funding of scholarships for competent but disadvantaged students, to doctoral levels.

Guido Carli, former Governor of the Banca d'Italia, President of Confindustria, and later Senator was President of Luiss from 1978 until he died in 1993. His work was so highly esteemed that in 1994 the university changed its name to Luiss Guido Carli.

Originally, the university had only the faculties of Economics and Political Science, to which were added the faculty of Law in 1982. In 2011, an academic reorganization took place, which resulted in today's four Departments: Law, Business and Management, Economics and Finance, and Political Science. Today the university offers many courses entirely taught in English, such as 'Economics and Business' or 'Politics: Philosophy and Economics'.

To attend a degree program at one of the five Departments at Luiss, candidates must pass an admission test. Each year a maximum number of places available is set and the admission test is done in two different sessions (one in February and one in May), after which a ranking by session is drafted, where each student has a score made up of their final grade in secondary school and their test score. Admission is based on the available slots and where selected students choose not to attend, other students are selected from the waiting list.