Information about university life and advice to help you during your stay in Italy.
Arrival registration
As soon as you arrive at the University of Bologna you should go to the International Office of your city-campus (Bologna, Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna, Rimini) to register: your grant will start according to the date of the registration. The official arrival or departure date that will appear on your documents can only be the date you show up at the office.
Bring with you two passport size photos and a photocopy of your passport.
You will get documents stating your arrival and a Welcome Kit with all you need to start your university life. If you need stamps on specific documents from your home university, bring them with you.
Welcome day
The Staff of the International Relations Office invites you to the orientation day.
You will get information on the essential steps that you have to follow as an International Exchange Student; you will find out more about services provided by University and about leisure activities, from music to sport. You will meet students’ associations and you will meet your fellow students from all over the world.
CHIOSTRO GRANDE - PIAZZA SAN GIOVANNI IN MONTE 2, BOLOGNA
TUESDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2010, 3-5 P.M.
The choice of course units and the changes to the learning agreement
After registering at the University's International Relations Office, you should contact your Italian coordinator (the professor responsible of your exchange) and Erasmus Offices at Faculties to get the information you need about your Faculty.
You can refer to your coordinator and to Erasmus Offices if you need advice for your study plan and the course units. You may also need your coordinator if you want to change your learning agreement.
It is absolutely important that you check the choices you have done filling your learning agreement. Course units may not be available in the semester you are spending at Bologna University; you may not be admitted to attend course units provided to a restricted number of students; undergraduate students may not be admitted to graduate course units. Please look up in Faculties websites for details.
You can choose course units in all Faculties, but always check the specific rules and restrictions applied by each Faculty, in order to make sure that you can actually sit the final exams.
If the course units you have chosen are not available or don’t meet your needs and expectations, you can contact your coordinator and change your learning agreement. The modified learning agreement must be approved by both the Italian and your home university coordinators.
You don’t have to register for lectures. Attendance can be either compulsory or elective, but it is always highly recommended. Please let the Professor know that you are attending classes as an exchange student.
Exchange students are official students of the University of Bologna and are free to enjoy the full potential of their university life by attending courses and also by making use of the various university facilities available, such as canteens, libraries, Sports Centre (CUSB), and the student music association, 'Collegium Musicum'.
The online study plan
The study plan is the list of course units you wish to follow, based on your approved learning agreement. Submitting your online study plan is the first mandatory step you have to do in order to be able to register for exams and to allow professors to record your exams.
Go to Piani di studio web typing username and password you have been given. Choose course units and press the save button before quitting the programme.
In order to correctly select the course units, look up in the courses catalogue or in Faculties websites and pay attention to academic programmes codes (4 digits), to subject codes (5 digits) and to the number of ECTS. Erasmus Offices can help you for a correct selection.
Please note:
Different course units may have the same description, same code, but may belong to different degree programmes, have different number of ECTS and be taught by different professors.
In the courses catalogue are included integrated courses. They are made of two ore more sub-units integrated in one final exam. Exchange students are allowed to select the whole integrated course or the one or more sub-units. When submitting your study plan, be careful to make the exact choice. When you sit the exam, pay attention also that it gets both officially recorded and reported in your libretto, with the exact number of ECTS.
In some Faculties professors are automatically enabled to electronically record single sub-units of an integrated course, through AlmaEsami system; in some other Faculties professors have to ask to Faculties Offices to be enabled. Please tell to your professor that you are planning to sit a single sub-unit exam.
Piani di studio Web for exchange students registered in A.Y. 2009-2010.
The service Piani di studio web, for students registered in A.Y. 2009-2010, will be available until 29th July 2010. You have to complete your online study plan before this date. Afterwards if you need to change your study plan, you have to write an email to incoming.diri@unibo.it, pointing your name, surname, matriculation number, name and code of the exam and degree programme, number of credits and professor of the exam you wish to put in your study plan.
The exams sessions and the registration for exams
For most Faculties, exams sessions are available on AlmaEsami. Connect to the system typing username and password. In order to check exam sessions and register follow the attached instructions (in Italian).
Please note that some Faculties may have different systems of registering for exams. Look up in the Faculties websites.
The exams recording and the transcript of records
In order to obtain a transcript of records, all the exams you have passed must be officially recorded. Recording of an exam consists in an official statement that a student has sat an exam, obtaining a grade and a number of ECTS in a specific date, issued and signed by the professor. The record is an official document, with a legal value. It can be either electronic (through AlmaEsami) or on paper.
Exams must also be transcribed on your record book (libretto). Be aware that your libretto is not an official record of your exams.
All these steps are necessary to issue your transcript of records and transmit it to your home university, for the recognition of the ECTS acquired in you exchange period.
You can check the recordings of your exams through AlmaEsami typing username and password. The recorded exams are marked with "verbalizzato" and the grade.
If a recording is missing, check if you have correctly submitted your online study plan, contact the professors and ask for recording. At the end of your exchange period, when you bring your libretto to the International Relations Office, to register your departure, all the exams must be officially recorded. Please check that your exams have been regularly recorded some time before your departure.
If you carry out activities which are not included in the courses catalogue and you cannot insert them in your online study plan, you need to ask to the professor for a specific certification. These activities won’t be included in your transcript of records.
If you sit exams without passing them, but you need to have them reported in your transcript of records, ask the professor to both officially record (either electronically or on paper) and write in your libretto "respinto" or "ritirato".
If you don’t sit the exam but you need a certification of attendance, you have to ask it to the professor. This certification won’t be included in your transcript of record. Please note, that in order to gain credits, you have to pass exams; the only attendance is not enough.
At the end of your stay in Italy, bring your libretto and a copy of all these certifications to the International Relations Office of your city-campus.
If all records are done, your transcript of record will be issued and transmitted to your home university in a short time.
Changes to the exchange period
The number of months of your exchange period has been agreed in advance by your university and the University of Bologna.
If you want to leave in advance, you just need to inform your home university.
If you want to stay longer, please ask permission to your Italian coordinator. He has to give the authorization by sending an email to International Relation Office in your Campus.
If you require it the International Relation Office will issue an updated registration certificate.
Back to your home University
At the end of your exchange period you have to go to the same International Relation Office where you have registered your arrival, to register you departure.
Take with you your libretto and a copy of it. Check through AlmaEsami that all the exams you’ve taken have been recorded. If not please contact professors and ask for recordings. Bring with you a copy of certifications of all different activities you have done in your exchange period, that are not subjected to recording through AlmaEsami.
The International Relation Office will issue certificate stating your exchange period spent at University of Bologna. If you need stamps on specific documents from your home university, bring them with you.
Your transcript of record will be sent by mail to your home university.