Italian universities

[Ilovefatrascals]

Dd thinking of studying Italian at uni which would involve a year in Italy. Anyone have any experience (good or bad) of studying there? If so, which cities? She's heard that the unis don't provide accommodation for overseas students and she's fixated a bit on this. I'm hoping that by the time she goes (third year) she will have matured.

@Juja I also think a key thing to find out is how much the year abroad will actually count for in her final degree mark. For my daughter's university in the UK (also a small beautiful city!) it wasn't a huge amount. She needed to pass the semester at Sapienza - her first semester was a work placement so no grades there, but the actual result from Sapienza was not going to affect whether she got a first or a 2.1. So she had a great time, worked hard and did get good results, but her time was balanced between her studies and exploring Rome/Italy and enjoying life.

Universita per Stranieri di Perugia - beautiful city and very studenty. I studied there and loved it (albeit it was 20 years ago now!)
Or somewhere like Pavia, Genoa, Turin? Avoid places like Rome, Milan, Florence as they're either too big or too touristy (which makes it harder to practice).

And OP, re accommodation, best thing to do (if there's no way of sorting somewhere pre-arrival) is book into a hostel for a week and spend that time viewing a few places. I was worried about this element of it before going abroad but I ended up in a lovely little flat with some Italian students, which was brilliant for my language skills!

This is a really good point. For me IIRC it was the equivalent of half a second year module per language (and based on an essay - so if you were studying abroad what you were doing there didn't count at all). But i knew others doing a "subject with italian" style degree whose year abroad study counted hugely towards their degree.

DDs study in Italy didn’t count. The work required was set by uk uni. That was marked and counted. She also had compulsory translation modules in Italy, All classes were in Italian. Thats the point. She didn’t pre test but did Portuguese and History of Art.

Portuguese was ab initio.

Hello,
Does the course definitely include a year at an Italian university. DS is currently in Italy working as a languages assistant in a school and part of his degree in Italian and Politics. So he’s done 2 years, this is his year abroad, then returns for a final year.

You can usually decide whether to study or teach, but I expect things have changed a bit post-brexit as Erasmus used to ge a very popular option (albeit not the only way to study abroad in your 3rd year)

I believe students are finding it much more difficult to get jobs abroad now so teaching assistant roles and uni are probably the best options. @Juja What unis in Italy does her uni have links with? Lots of suggestions on the thread but where can she actually go?

DDs old uni currently lists: Bologna, Venice. Pisa, Milan, Turin, Naples, Siena, Palermo and Verona.

@TizerorFizz her uni encourages them to apply to whichever university they would like to go for their year abroad and will write them references. And quite a few work in British Council teaching schools etc. There is no list of prescribed Universities as such. I believe her Uni has formal links with Pavia and Sienna but that only covers about 20% of the 40 Italian students at her Uni. Her tutor has strong links with University of Bologna.

DD has an information evening next week so will know more after that.

I think DDs had links with the ones they list. Mostly for MFL students but a few other faculties as well. I guess having a list makes it easier to manage!

2 of my dds spent 6 months at Bologna university and loved it. Accommodation was easy to find at reasonable cost.

@Juja If her tutor has links with Bologna, I would explore that as a possibility. DDs uni hosted students from their uni list and therefore had established exchange programmes with them and a certain number of places at each. Does DD know what she wants to study at the uni? Classes will be big so study is not the same as the uk. Choose a subject or two thats reasonably taught in a large group! DD felt studying something she was interested in worked best. She initially wanted law classes but was not allowed to go to them. So history of art, being an interest, seemed a good option. Italy is a good place to study that subject.

@bevelino very good to hear Bologna was a success as that is on my DD's shortlist. She is currently looking to see which cities have good rowing clubs. Rowing seems to be more in city clubs than in Unis and Rome has quite a few. Bologna seems to have coastal rowing rather than eights.

@TizerorFizz good to know your DD couldn't do law as that is exactly what she was hoping to do but as you say it may not be an option. She will need to check.

All very useful - thanks to all sharing their DC's experiences

@Juja It might be different now! As DD is a barrister, it was an interest. They said she didn’t have the prior learning to access law. I can see that was true. She took ab initio Portuguese and History of Art. I would therefore check what she can study as DD found there was not free choice. It made no difference in the long run. There’s more to law than studying it in Italy.