The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic (MAECI) offers foreign universities the opportunity to apply for grants for the creation and operation of Italian language chairs to support the promotion of the Italian language and culture abroad.

The grants for Italian language chairs are intended to partially cover the salaries of teachers directly hired by universities under local law contracts. The term Italian language chairs (cattedre di italiano in Italian) refers to university chairs and/or courses wherein the Italian language is among the languages taught according to the regulations of the relevant institution, even if the chair or course has a different name.