Structure of the Collegio’s didactic offering

The Collegio Superiore covers two main disciplinary areas:

  • The humanistic-social area includes the degree courses of the following main subject areas:  Economics and Management; Law; Languages and Literatures, Interpreting and Translation; Psychology; Education; Political Sciences; Statistics; Sociology; Humanities;
  • The scientific-technological area includes the degree courses of the following main subject areas:  Pharmacy and Biotechnology; Engineering and Architecture; Medicine; Veterinary Medicine; Sciences; Agricultural and Food Sciences; Sports Science.

Collegiates are required to attend at least 72 hours per year of supplementary classroom lectures.

Didactic offer

The Collegio Superiore didactic offer consists of:

  • integrated courses (educational activities) consisting of 24 hours of classroom lectures, at the conclusion of which a mandatory exam is taken with a mark out of 30;
  • six hours of lectures given by the Collegio Superiore’s Tutors, at the conclusion of which a final evaluation of eligibility must be passed;
  • transversal skills workshops consisting of 6 hours of classroom teaching and 12 hours of exercises with the recognition of 2 CFU following a final suitability test;
  • ISA Lectures held by Visiting Fellows, who are international professors selected annually by the Institute of Advanced Studies;
  • written in-depth paper,  an activity that includes writing a paper, followed by a discussion with a final grade out of 30.

At the beginning of each academic year, Collegiates are asked to present a study plan, as indicated in the Collegio Superiore’s Regulation book.

During their academic career, each Collegiate is mentored by a Tutor, meaning a high-profile professor teaching at the University of Bologna. All Collegiates are asked to attend any lectures by their Tutor, if already assigned.

The didactic offering can include some educational activities consisting of laboratory hours to be carried out in various places, at different times. In the case of limited numbers of seats, pre-registration will be required, according to the terms and deadlines provided by the Secretariat.

Lectures

There are three kinds of lecture:

  • subject – specialist lectures. These are open to all Collegiates in possession of the required subject prerequisites, in order to ensure full fruition of the lecture;
  • interdisciplinary – lectures open to all Collegiates regardless of their prior specialist expertise;
  • workshop – lectures consisting of laboratory activities; they provide training on research or practical activities; to take part in lectures with limited seats, pre-registration is mandatory.

 

Final exam (in-depth essay)

The final exam involves the production of a written text and will have your Tutor as supervisor, possibly supported by a University teacher, internal or external.

For Collegiates enrolled in a 5 or 6 year Ordinary Course (60-72 CFU - single cycle and 2nd cycle students) the activity must have the following characteristics:

• production and public discussion of an in-depth paper, for example in the form of a research project or in the form of a scientific article, agreed with your Tutor, on a topic of your choice in a disciplinary (high specialist level) or interdisciplinary field, that does not duplicate the topic of one's master's or single-cycle master's thesis, or the topic of a possible research project for the doctorate;

• length of 6/10 thousand words and it can be written in English.

For Collegiates enrolled in a 3-year Ordinary Course (36 CFU - 1st cycle students) the activity must have the following characteristics:

• production and public discussion of an original paper or an in-depth analysis and expansion of an individual paper presented as an exam test for an integrated course or seminar during the three-year period (exclusively for the cohorts prior to the A.Y. 2022/23, the test will consist of a in-depth analysis and public discussion of one of the individual papers presented as an exam test for an integrated course over the three-year period);

• length of 4500 words and it can be written in English.

 

Additional educational activities (extra-credits)

Collegiates can add extra-credits up to a maximum of 5 ECTS/year by including other educational activities scheduled annually by the Collegio Superiore, in addition to the mandatory ones. Collegiates belonging to student cohorts prior to that of AY 2021/22 and enrolled in a second-cycle program have the possibility to add, once in the whole cycle only, the activity of “Written in-depth paper”.

The educational activities inserted on the study plan as extra-credits, those for which an evaluation of eligibility or a mark is not expected, are to be considered as non-inserted, since they are not regarded as mandatory by the academic Regulations.