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Based on a socio-historical and monographic survey, this article describes the emergence of social service within the Italian university field and how it has been structured from its origins to the present day. In a university context of budget cuts and the professionalisation of degrees, this article reports on the development of this new disciplinary field and the internal fragmentation and competition that arise. We will see how the institutionalisation of social work schools can be understood at the crossroads of European political dynamics, academic issues and the trajectories of the actors in this field.