GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY

Assessment methods such as exams and other types of tests are designed to assess the students' required level of preparation in order to be awarded the credit points for the various educational activities. Assessments are marked out of thirty (exams) or given a pass/fail grade and are always individual.

Exams, like lessons, are based on the topics described in the course program, available in 2 versions: the course profile and the course syllabus.

The course profile includes the main topics dealt with in the course and is divided into following sections: Course Objectives, Course Content Summary, Textbooks, Detailed Description of Assessment Methods and, were applicable, prerequisites. Students can access the course profiles on the Bocconi Internet site at www.unibocconi.it/profiles. To help students in choosing courses on the basis of the course contents, the course profiles are published on the site well before the start of lessons. Substantial variations to the course profiles are not envisaged during the year, except for some changes to the textbooks that may be made as a consequence of new publications or updated material that were not available when the profile was finalized.

The purpose of the course syllabus together with the information published online is to explain in more detail the topics covered. For every learning session of the course, if possible the reference materials necessary for an in-depth consolidation of the concepts dealt with in the lessons and assessment methods are specified and tutors are available (see "Tutors"). The course syllabus is prepared by the Course Director in conjunction with the views of the Program Director. The syllabus is generally distributed during lessons and generally is also available online.

The assessment methods are indicated in a summarized form in the course profiles and are explained in further detail in the course syllabuses. In addition, they are also explained by the teachers during lectures and generally available online.  
The assessment methods may be different for attending and non-attending students. Furthermore, some exams can only be taken by attending students.
Students are considered "attending" if they fulfil the course attendance requirements established by the teacher.

Exams may be written or oral or a combination of a written exam with either an obligatory or optional oral part.

Generally the exam assessment methods include partial exams (one or more) and/or a single general exam.
Partial exams are not compulsory, although they are strongly recommended.

The results of partial exams are taken into account to pass the complete exam and to be awarded the credit points; passing two partial exams can, if the assessment methods allow, be equivalent to passing the general exam.

Oral exams are open to the public, while for written exams (either general or partial exams) students have the right to inspect their exam paper, which they are advised to do before the mark is registered.

For courses with multi-class groups in the same Bachelor Program, the exams are organized in the same way.

It is important to always check how exam marks are registered either with the teacher or with the secretary's office of the Department  (whether or not it is necessary to sign up for other exams to complete the requirements, etc.) and to check the expiration date of the mark of those written exams that are followed by an oral exam.

The Course Director will decide on the availability of past exam papers, together with the correct answers. If a course director decides to distribute past exam papers, a copy is placed in either the University bookshop or in the secretary's office of the Department.
Students can photocopy the material on presentation of their Bocconi ID card (which must be left as a deposit while they make copies).
Past exam papers which are released are available for 12 months, unless otherwise stipulated by the teacher. 

The exam timetable is organized in periods that do not coincide with the lessons . Each exam period consists of one or more sessions.
The exam timetable (October 2008 - September 2009) allocates 4 exam sessions for all courses and when necessary also includes partial exams. For foreign language courses 6 exam sessions are scheduled.

Students can take exams in all sessions as long as they satisfy the attendance requirements (semester course lessons in the study plan must be finished).

Lessons are suspended at mid-semester in both the first and second semester for 1st partial exams. 2nd partial exams are held at the end of the semester (1st semester course exams are held after the Christmas holidays).
Partial exam dates  may or may not coincide with those fixed for general exams.

The exam periods and exam sessions (reference period: October 2008 - September 2009) are scheduled as follows.

Note

• "session" refers to both exams of the current academic year and the previous years;
•  the fourth exam session for II semester courses will be held in February 2010;
• exam sessions for foreign language courses are scheduled for: June, July, September, October/November 2009; January and April 2010.
• An additional exam session has been scheduled in December (9-19 December 2008), for 1^st semester courses, reserved for students who: 
  • are participating in: exchange and free mover programs abroad in the 2nd semester 2008/2009 academic year;
  • are participating in the Campus Abroad (Winter) program;
  • are Incoming 1st semester (Exchange and single courses for visiting students)
  • are participating in a curricular internship abroad or in Italy in January/February 2009 period.              
    Please note that for the early session students CANNOT sit exams for previous year's courses which have not been passed.
    

There is NO overlapping between compulsory course exam sessions of the same year, Bachelor program; therefore no 2 exams on the same day are usually scheduled.
The overlapping rule refers only to courses of the year in which the student is enrolled and do not refer to previous years' exams which have not been passed yet.

The exam timetable for the October 2008 - September 2009 period is published in the second half of September on the University Internet site at www.unibocconi.it/examtimetable.
During the year the timetable of an exam session may be changed (only to a later date or time), in which case students do not need to re-register for the exam since their registration is automatically transferred to the new timetable.
Exam dates are updated daily on the Internet site, so that if the date or time is changed, the new one is displayed; students may check the original exam session timetable by clicking on the exam icons.

Exam timetable changes are displayed on the "Exam timetable changes" bulletin board located on the ground floor of the University building in via Sarfatti 25.

Personalized exam timetables can be printed at Punto Blu terminals and from the yoU@B student diary, accessed from the Bocconi homepage. Via yoU@B students can integrate their personalized exam timetable with the deadlines of other educational activities and/or personal interest activities, organize and print all the information recorded in their diary for the desired period (daily, weekly, monthly, etc).

The exams are identified in the exam timetable by the following letters:

• PI Partial exam
• S Written exam
• O Oral exam 

Students can check the classroom assigned for their exam via yoU@B student diary generally in the afternoon of the working day prior to the exam date.

If the exam is held in more than one classroom, students are allocated following criteria set by the Department the course refers to.  

In any case the classroom published on the yoU@B student diary is the one the student has to go to.

The list of classrooms assigned for exams is also published on the website (following the same timelines explained above) at www.unibocconi.it/rooms.

It is also available:

• on the ground floor in via Sarfatti 25 on the "Today's exams and activities" bulletin board;
• on the ground floor in piazza Sraffa 13, on the monitors and on the bulletin boards.

Classrooms and student allocation are displayed on the bulletin boards Exams breakdown of students, located on the ground floor in via Sarfatti 25 and Piazza Sraffa 13.

Students can also check exam dates and classroom allocations by mobile phone using the SMS Bocconi service.

Registration for written, oral and partial exams can be carried out at Punto Blu terminals or through Virtual Punto Blu up to the fourth last working day before the exam itself. Students can also register for exams by mobile phone using the SMS Bocconi service.

The following days and periods are classified as non-working days:

• Saturdays and Sundays;
• Holidays and periods when the University is closed, as indicated below:
  
  - for 2008: 8 December, from 24 to 31 December;
  - for 2009 (up to the September exam period): 1 January, 6 January, 13 April, 1^st May, 2 June.

To register for general exams and partial exams students must have paid the 1st instalment of the university fees and tuition and have no academic penalties.
To register, select IP exam registration: a list of the un-passed courses included in the study plan appears. Students should select the type of exam they want to register for (O = oral; S = written; I = partial exam). It is possible to register or cancel for the current date (first date available for that type of exam) or for the next date (second date available for that same type of exam), however, it is not possible to register for both at the same time.
If general exams (O or S) are on the same day as partial exams (one date only), students must choose between the exam types as it is not possible to register for both at the same time.
If the exam timetable shows both a date for the written exam and a date for the oral exam, students must register for both (even if they are on the same day). If students do not register for both, they cannot sit the exam.

In some cases when registering for an exam students will be asked to make a specific choice from among a group of alternatives ("registration to the groups"), for example "attending students", or integrative oral, etc. After selecting the type and date of exam for which they want to register/cancel, a window will automatically appear giving students the possibility of selecting the group they want to register for.
The registration/cancellation operation is carried out only if all confirmation prompts asked for by the system are given. If confirmation is not given, registration for the specific activity will NOT take place.

It is possible to display and print the operations carried out for all active exams (that is for the next exams scheduled at the transaction date) at Punto Blu terminals. In addition, students can display all the operations carried out over the last 90 days, including information regarding exams that have already been held.
If the system does not allow you to register for or cancel from an exam, it may be as a result of one of the following:

• the registration deadline has expired;
• the course is not included in the study plan;
• the exam has already been passed;
• the student is suspended for non-payment of university fees and tuition;
• the student does not have the right to sit the exam because the exam is scheduled before lessons finish (end of semester); this does not apply to partial exams.

When the registration to the session has closed, the above criteria will be checked again. If the criteria has not been met the student cannot sit the exam. Students who are suspended after registering for one or more exams and/or partial exams are sent a message on their yoU@B student diary (https://agenda.unibocconi.it) and via SMS informing them that they cannot sit the exam. Students who clear their position before registration closes have the right to sit the exam. Once students clear their position they will receive a message via the above channels.

Examining boards are appointed by the Rector or one of his delegates. They consist of at least 2 members, including a President, and are presided over by the Course Director. When necessary, exam commissions may be divided into sub-examining boards.

Examining professors include: the Course Director and the official course teaching team, as indicated in the annual teaching activities program, together with those experts in the subject who have the required qualifications and have been proposed by the Course Director.

Students will generally sit exams with the teacher(s) of their assigned class group if they take the exam in the first exam period after the end of the course. In successive exam sessions, exams may also be organized for various class groups, in which case students sit exams with a teacher or teachers of one of the class groups, or with an expert in the subject. The class groups may not be the same that were assigned to the students.

Students must come to exams equipped with:

• unofficial academic transcript;
• Bocconi ID card;
• valid proof of identity (e.g. identity card).

Students must sign in to certify their presence at the exam (this does not refer to mark acceptance).
For written exams, students certify their presence by signing the exam paper.
For oral exams, students certify their presence by signing the appropriate documents used to register the exam mark.

During exams students may decide to withdraw, in which case their papers are not considered valid and the exam result is not registered.
For written exams students are deemed to have withdrawn if they hand in their exam papers with "withdrawn" written on them; for oral exams, students may only withdraw before the teacher declares the mark. Withdrawing from an exam is equivalent to not taking the exam.
Handing in written exam papers (whether they are partial or general exams) means accepting the mark the teacher gives the paper, no matter what it is.

Exams are official assessments which must be taken in full compliance with the rules.

During an examination students:

• cannot offer or receive any assistance from students or any other party, nor can they use notes unless authorized by the teacher;
• cannot attempt to obtain confidential information about the specific questions of the exam;
• cannot assume the identity of another nor allow others to assume their identity during an exam; nor can students present as their own a piece of work which has been entirely or partially copied.

Violation of the above rules or instructions given by the teacher during exams, is cause for cancellation of the exam, and the start of disciplinary procedures. The disciplinary sanctions applied in this University include:

• official warning;
• temporary ban from one or more courses;
• exclusion from one or more exams for one or more exam periods;
• temporary suspension from the University and loss of exam periods (not more than three years).

All disciplinary sanctions are registered in the student's academic career, written in the transfer form, and in all university documents used in determining the student's graduation grade. A disciplinary sanction more serious than a warning precludes any student benefits (scholarships, housing etc.).

These rules do not substitute the university in the monitoring of the exams. The university will maintain strict exam procedures. At least one teacher will be physically present at each exam. The university moreover will do its best to ensure that the exams are taken in adequate rooms, with enough space and silence to allow students to concentrate. Teachers are required to set clear questions and to mark exams following clear rules, allowing students to show their ability and degree of understanding of the subject area.

A mark of between 0 and 17 out of thirty is considered unsatisfactory.
A mark of between 18 and 30 out of thirty is considered satisfactory.
The examining board may award "lode" (cum laude) to students who are awarded thirty out of thirty (30/30).
Exams that are awarded a satisfactory mark are considered to have been passed and cannot be retaken (whether they are partial exams or general exams).
Exams that are awarded an unsatisfactory mark are considered to have been failed and must therefore be taken again.

The results of written exams are available from the secretary's office of the Department the courses refer to.
The results are also generally published on the Bocconi Internet site, where they can be accessed through the yoU@B student diary. Marks are communicated for informational purposes only, therefore once the result of an exam has been registered, students are advised to check that it has been correctly recorded in their academic career by using the "Certification" menu at Punto Blu terminals.
Results are also available via the SMS Bocconi service.

The final results of exams are recorded with a mark out of thirty and are registered in the student's academic career by the Student Administration Centre.

Each student's "Official academic transcript" contains all the exams included in the study plan, together with the date when the exam was passed, marks and credit points awarded for the exams that have been recorded.

The "unofficial academic transcript" contains all exams including those that have been passed, i.e. the exams for which students have been awarded a sufficient mark.

Only passed exams are certified.

For the first and second foreign language courses, some international language certifications (the mark is converted into a mark out of thirty) are recognized as an alternative to Bocconi exams.
For more detailed information see "Foreign languages and Computer Skills"

The Grade Point Average (GPA) is calculated by the mathematical average weighted on the credit point values of all courses with marks expressed out of thirty recorded in the student's academic career.
A 30 "cum laude" is awarded the value of 31.

A maximum of 2 additional exams can be included in the calculation of the GPA. If a student has passed more than 2 additional exams, the 2 best results are considered.

The exams ratified for students transferring from other Italian universities are assigned the mark awarded by the university where the exam was originally taken.

The exams ratified for students transferring from universities abroad are assigned the mark awarded by the university where the exam was originally taken. If the original marks are expressed in different numerical scales or in letters, they are converted to marks out of thirty on the basis of the specific conversion table.

The exams taken at other universities that have an agreement with Università Bocconi are assigned the mark awarded by the university where the exam was originally taken. If the original marks are expressed in different numerical scales or in letters, they are converted to marks out of thirty on the basis of conversion tables.

Exam sequence indicates the sequence that must be followed in terms of time and prerequisites in preparing exams, requiring students to pass some exams before sitting for others.

Students can sit for prerequisite exams in the same period ("session"). At the end of every exam period checks will be carried out to ensure that the regulations have been adhered to. Any exams taken in breach of the sequence will be annulled.
There are language prerequisites for the 2008-2009 academic year.  For the first foreign language the first-year exam is a prerequisite of the second-year exam.
Notice that in order to take the exam for Informatica per l'Economia/Computer skills for Economics (code 6033) students must have already passed the complete ECDL (see " Foreign Languages Computer skiils").
In any case for courses where there is no pre-ordered sequence in sitting the exams of programs,  students are advised to sit exams following the teaching activities sequence for the current academic year and semester.
Furthermore, in order to continue studies in the second year, students must have acquired a minimum of 24 credits in the first year of studies by the July exam period (see "Continuing studies").

Students enrolled in Bachelor programs may obtain credit for exams (marks and credit points) taken abroad as part of the following programs which are promoted and coordinated by the International Relations Service: International Exchange, Free-Mover Semester, Campus Abroad(*) and Free-Mover Summer Program.

Please note:

• with reference to the above-mentioned periods abroad, students can receive credit for a maximum of 30 CP for  the Exchange Program, Free-Mover Semester Program and not more than 1 CP in the Free-Mover Summer Program;
• students who take part in the Exchange Program cannot take part in the Free-Mover Semester Program, and vice versa, since it is not possible to accumulate 2 semesters abroad:
  - credit can be granted for both compulsory and elective exams - either in full or after integration of part of the program;
  - compulsory course exams cannot be recognized if they have been taken in universities abroad. See the following list.
  
• List of compulsory courses which cannot be recognized if taken abroad.  

(*) Exams passed as part of the Campus Abroad Program do not come under the "Credit for exams passed at universities abroad" section, as they are Bocconi courses.

Credit recognition for exams taken as part of the Exchange, Free-Mover Semester and Free-Mover Summer Programs is not usually automatic and depends on the following credit approval procedure.
To obtain approval, students seeking credit must present the course program before departure to the Course Director of the corresponding Bocconi course.
If the elective courses do not correspond to any courses offered by Università Bocconi, students must apply to the Program Director or one of his/her delegates before departure. This refers to the Exchange Program only and is limited to particular cases.

To start the credit approval procedure students should contact the International Relations Office which will receive the academic transcript from the host university abroad. Based on this document and the student's request, the "Summarized credit approval report" and "Individual exam report" will be prepared. These will be used for exam conversion together with the "mark conversion table".

Students must go to the Course Director of the Bocconi equivalent course (or the Program Director or his/her delegate for courses that do not have a Bocconi equivalent) with the "Summarized credit approval report" and "Individual exam report" in order to have the exam mark recorded. Exam registration via Punto Blu or Virtual Punto Blu is not necessary.

The Course Director (or the Program Director or his/her delegate) will send the "Individual exam report" to the Student Administration Centre.

Once this process has been completed students hand in the "Summarized credit approval report" to the International Relations Office. They will then go to the Teaching Services and Organization Desk to make any elective course changes that have not yet been included in the study plan.

The normal credit approval procedure does not apply to some courses (indicated on the Internet site at www.ir.unibocconi.it/exchange). These courses are automatically recognized. Therefore, it is not necessary to submit the course profile before departure to the Course Director or Program Director or one of his/her delegates. Nor is it necessary to submit the individual exam report to have the course registered.

Credit is granted for all exams taken as part of the Campus Abroad Program.
On completion of the program, the International Relations Office sends a list of students who have passed exams along with marks to the Student Administration Centre. The course is automatically registered in the student's academic career, if it conforms to the program structure regulations.