GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY

The choice of the foreign languages and the level of the course must be carried out in the first year of studies through the yoU@B Diary by accessing to the Punto Blu-Administrative Area from 9 to 23 January 2012.
In the second year, when enrolling in the academic year, students will be asked to confirm the choice they made in the first year.
For information about the choice of foreign languages and possible modifications and language courses offered, see "Foreign Languages" or check the website at www.unibocconi.eu/languagecentre.

From 9-23 January 2012, via Punto Blu, after accessing to the yoU@B, students enrolled in some Master of Science programs must choose the curriculum or courses chosen by the students of the II semester, first year, for each Master of Science program following the indications below:

Management (M)

Students enrolled  in the Master of Science in Management (M) choose  between the two curricula in which the course is divided:

• Percorsi di Management (Majors of Management), or
• Organizzazione e gestione delle risorse umane (Organization and Human Resourse Management).
  

• Government and business-government relations (held in Italian);
• International organizations (taught in English);
• Management delle imprese sociali (held in Italian) (Social enterprise management).

1 workshop worth 12 credit points to be chosen by the students from among those offered or 2 elective courses worth 6 credit points.

Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology (EMIT)

Students enrolled  in the EMIT Program choose a free-track Major or one of the recommended Majors from:

• Green Management & Sustainability;
• IT consulting 
• Technology and Innovation Management.
  

Discipline economiche e sociali (DES) - Economic and Social Sciences (ESS)

Students enrolled  in the Master of Science program DES/ESS choose:

• 3 electives (specifying the language when they are taught in Italian and English) or 2 electives and 2 in-depth studies worth 3 credit points each. It is specified that only one in-depth course is associated to a course for a maximum worth of 3 credit points.

Such choices can be modified when enrolling in the following academic year; please note that in this case the courses changed will be included in the second year study plan in order to allow students to attend the lessons. Therefore sitting exams for these courses can take place only after the end of the semester in which second year courses are held.

Students enrolled in the first year of a MSc program are admitted to the second year regardless of the number of credit points earned.
After the first year of the program, students can enrol in the second year or in the first year as repeating students ("ripetente" or "fuori corso intermedio").
After the second year, students who have not yet completed their studies generally enrol as "fuori corso"; however they may still enrol as "ripetente".
Only students who are enrolled in the academic year as "regular" or "repeating":

• are allocated a class group for lessons.

In addition, all students enrolled:

• are allowed to sit exams;
• are granted access to the various services offered by the University (Library, IT labs, etc);
• can obtain enrolment certifications for the academic year in which they are enrolled.

Enrolment must be carried out during the 2 August - 2 September 2011 period, by accessing, via yoU@B to the Punto Blu Administrative Area menu.

The enrolment procedures are as follows:

• select the "Enrolment in academic year" option;
• enter the enrolment data requested.

After selecting "Enrolment in the academic year", the procedure gives second-year students the option to choose the major (if any) and electives. If the elective is taught in both Italian and English then students are asked to specify the language (see "Choice of electives").
The system will then require students to confirm both their enrolment in the academic year and choice of the major (if any) and elective courses.

Once enrolment has been completed, students can immediately print the following from Punto Blu the enrolment certification and the official academic transcript.

Enrolment in the academic year is completed once the first instalment of the university fees and tuition has been paid and recorded in the student's academic career. If the first instalment of the university fees and tuition is not paid by 15 September 2011, students will not be able to carry out any administrative or learning activities or make use of any services offered to students.
Students who do not enrol by 2 September 2011 for whatever reason, can enrol during the 3 September - 31 December 2011 (*) period on payment of a late-enrolment fee (for detailed information check  the website www.unibocconi.eu/fees) and on the understanding that the possibility of choosing electives may be reduced (see following paragraphs).
After 31 December 2011 enrolment is only possible as repeating students ("fuori corso" or "fuori corso intermedio") and only if the Rector agrees to accept a written justification and request for an enrolment extension which must be submitted, students will have to pay the penalty fees (www.unibocconi.eu/fees), to the Academic Affairs Division Desk.

(*) Since 31 December 2011 is a bank holiday, the deadline is extended to the next working day (3 January 2012).

When enrolling in the second year of studies (2 August - 2 September 2011) students must choose their major and both I and II semester electives to be included in the study plan specifying the language of instruction if requested.
During this period students can also modify major and the electives previously chosen.

DES/ESS students are reminded that in order to allow them to attend lessons, if they make any change to their first year study plan during 2 August - 2 September 2011 the new elective courses are positioned in their second year study plan. For this reason exams can be taken after the end of the semester in which second year courses are held.

• Before choosing the major and electives, students are advised to check the list of courses available, course profiles, class timetables, and the tables of "Incompatible" and "Banned" courses published on the website (Italian version) and Subject Groups available in the course profiles (www.unibocconi.eu/courses). 

The educational offer for the 2011-2012 academic year includes  also an e-learning class group for some courses already taught in the same semester using traditional methods.
If required, when students are asked to choose their elective courses, they must specify the learning method (either traditional or e-learning) as well as language of instruction of electives offered both in Italian and in English.

After the enrolment in the academic year allocation of I and II semester electives will take place for all students except those who have chosen the "free track" major. For them the allocation of electives is subject to the official approval of the MSc Program Director to the Academic Affairs Division.

Allocation of electives takes into account the progressive sign-up position registered when choosing/changing courses.

As a general guide, each class group of elective courses must not have more than 110 attending students.

Except for incoming Exchange program and incoming Double Degree.

Bocconi students participating in international programs may have recorded in their academic career exams taken at universities abroad even if at Bocconi these courses have attracted the maximum number of students.

Students who enrol in the academic year after 2 September and especially during the 3 September 2011 - 31 December 2011 period(*), can choose their I and II semester electives from the list of electives that are still available at the time of enrolment in the academic year.

(*) Since 31 December 2011 is a bank holiday, the deadline is extended to the next working day (3 January 2012).

Second-year students can change the first and/or second language by using, after accessing to the yoU@B, the Punto Blu during the periods from 2 August - 30 September 2011 and 9 - 23 January 2012.
In addition, in the same periods, students can apply to have the mark that is recorded in the student's undergraduate academic career validated, in order to be exempted from the MSc language exam.
More information is available in "Foreign languages".

During the 9 - 23 January 2012 period students can change their I and II semester electives included in their study plans with other II semester electives as long as they refer to the current academic year. These modifications must meet the numerical limits specified in "Allocation of electives".

Some highly-motivated and deserving MSc students will be allowed to obtain academic credit from higher level courses. That is, courses held as part of the following Bocconi PhD Programs: PhD in Economics and Finance, PhD in Business Administration and Management and PhD in Statistics.

This is a unique opportunity to enrich your academic curriculum with higher level courses.
This opportunity is offered to a limited number of students.

Considering the high level of complexity of PhD courses and the small number of students admitted, the selection procedures need to be rigorous. The assessment is based on a series of factors (described below) but it is necessarily comprehensive and qualitative depending on the applicant’s profile and the course requested in relation to the profiles of other candidates. It is not possible to challenge the final selection decisions made by the PhD School. Submitting the application for a higher level studies course implies acceptance of the assessment, whether positive or negative, given by the PhD School at the end of the selection.

At the same time, admission to courses of the PhD School implies acceptance of its rules.

Selection requirements 

• Students enrolled in the first or second year of studies for the 2011-2012 academic year can apply;
• students admitted to a Double Degree program are excluded from the selection;
• students cannot apply for PhD courses taught in the same semester in which they have been selected for an Exchange or Free-mover Semester programs. However, students selected for such programs can apply for PhD courses held while they are attending lessons at Bocconi.
  

Number of PhD courses that can be selected

Students enrolled in DESS-ESS programs can choose up to 3 PhD courses. Of these, they can request recognition of 2 courses in place of MSc electives and 1 course as an additional one.

Students enrolled in other MSc programs can choose up to 2 PhD courses: of these they can request recognition of 1 course in place of a MSc elective and 1 course as an additional course.

When selecting PhD courses, students cannot express an alternative choice for any course. Decisions are final. This choice is unavoidable due to the complexity and non-mechanical nature of the selection procedure.

The list of available PhD courses for MSc program students includes the name of the PhD Course Director, the teaching period, the MSc program the course is offered in and the maximum number of places available for MSc students for each course. All courses are taught in English.

Some PhD courses and MSc courses may be incompatible courses in terms of contents. Therefore, students cannot record both courses in their study plans. Students must verify any incompatible courses when choosing courses.

• List of available PhD courses for MSc program students
  

Selection procedure

The assessment of each student is based on his/her academic career and degree of motivation.

The list of the candidates admitted is determined by the Dean of the PhD School.The decision is final.

If a student who has been selected wishes to stop attending the PhD course(s) for whatever reason, those slots will not be reassigned to other students.

The criteria for selection are the following:

• percentage of credit points earned (by the end of the February exam session) compared to the total number of credit points that can be earned
• grade point average (weighted on the credit points)
• any other credit points already recorded in the academic career (for example languages)
• brief letter of motivation 
• short CV 
• any GMAT or GRE certification
• graduation grade of the undergraduate degree.

• In May students apply:
  • via yoU@B Diary, by specifying the courses they wish to attend;
  • by submitting a brief letter of motivation, CV and any GMAT or GRE certification to the AcademicAffairs Division Desk.
• By the first half of July students will receive an admission/non-admission message concerning the courses via yoU@B;
• In August students will include elective courses provided in the Master of Science program list only(they do not enter the PhD courses they applied for). If students pass PhD exams they can record up to 1 exam (up to 2 exams for DESS-ESS students) in place of one (two) of the MSc elective courses previously included in the study plan. Should students, for whatever reason, not pass the PhD exams, then the study plan and elective courses selected by 2 September will be considered. Students selected for one or more PhD exams are not given other chances to modify the MSc elective courses other than those usually provided for all students.  

The class timetable may notbe available when making the choice (2 August - 2 September 2011), and PhD classes and other MSc course lessons might overlap.

Classes consist of a limited number of students (usually 5 to 10).

At the end of the course students have only ONE chance to sit the exam.

Students can attend the PhD course for the academic year to which he/she has applied. In other words, students applying in May 2012 for the PhD courses of the 2012-2013 academic year must sit the PhD exam for that academic year.

Recording in the student’s academic career

After passing PhD exams, students are contacted by the Study Planning Office of the Academic Affairs Division in order to define the composition of their study plan, therefore to evaluate the possibility of including the course in place of an elective course or as an additional one.

The exams passed are recorded in the student’s academic career as courses without Bocconi correspondence, taken as part of the Bocconi PhD School.The exams passed are recorded in the student’s academic career with a grade out of thirty and they are calculated in the GPA.

The recording is automatic and students cannot refuse the grade. Assessment of the PhD exam is made fairly without special regard for students who accessthe exam as a MSc program student. This should be carefully weighed by each student when applying for a PhD course.

Recording PhD courses in the academic career by students who have not been admitted to attend such courses through the procedure described above is absolutely not allowed.

Additional courses are courses that students choose in order to achieve more than the number of credit points required to fulfil the MSc degree requirements, they can be chosen from:

• Graduate level educational activities:
• electives of Msc Programs;
• foreign languages;
• in-depth studies (only for students enrolled in DES/ESS).
• higher level courses (PhD). For detailed information on the procedures for including such courses see paragraph 9.2.7.

All additional activities can be included in the study plan only after the course exams of the first 2 MSc semesters have been passed.
Additional courses are included in the calculation of the Grade Point Average; if students have taken more than 2, the best 2 marks are considered.
Students can choose additional courses by completing the form that can be collected from the Academic Affairs Division Desk during the 2 August 2011 - 23 January 2012 period.

Additional courses can be cancelled by handing in an application to the Academic Affairs Division Desk. An activity recorded with a passing mark cannot be eliminated.

Students cannot change their MSc program during the first year of studies.
After completion of the first year, students who apply to change their MSc program may be admitted to the first year of the new MSc program.

For MSc programs that are taught in both Italian and English, changing from a class group taught in English to a class group taught in Italian (and vice versa) is the same as changing Msc Program and therefore can only be done at the end of the first year.

In this case, the Program Director is responsible for deciding the year of studies that the student shall be admitted in.

The MSc Program Director of the new program evaluates all the changing MSc program requests submitted and decides on the possible admittance of the students on the basis of a global assessment of the student’s curriculum

When changing from one MSc program to another, the following applies:

• exams taken for courses in the original degree that have the same title, code and credit point value as those included in the new MSc Program are considered to be equal (some exams in common for the two MSc Programs);
• exams are to be integrated if they are for courses belonging to the same subject group in both the original and new degree program. Courses may have significantly different course profiles but are worth the same credit point value, or the original programs courses may be worth less credit points than those of the new program. In this case the exam mark is based on a weighted average of the marks obtained in both degree programs;
• any exams included in the original degree that are not included in the program structure of the new degree are considered to be in excess. Note that compulsory courses taken as part of the original MSc Program which are not included in the program structure of the new MSc Program can be recognized as additional and also as elective courses if approved by the MSc Program Director.

For the 2011-2012 academic year the following numerical limits have been set: 5 students for each class group of each MSc program.

The requests are evaluated by the MSc Program Director who decides on the possible admittance to the new program of the students, on a basis of a global assessment of the student’s curriculum.

In cases where the number of students who could be possibly admitted is greater than the number of places, a ranking list based on the student’ weighted average and the number of credit points earned will be taken into account.

Students can submit an application to change the MSc program (the application form must be collected, filled out and handed in at the Academic Affairs Division Desk) during the 2 August - 1 September 2011 period. The same deadline applies for cancelling or modifying any applications previously submitted.
In order to submit the application to change the MSc program, students must be enrolled in the 2011-2012 academic year in their original MSc Program.
On 7 September 2011, via their yoU@B student Diaries, students will receive the results of the Master of Science change, admitted students receive this message together with the new program details and the class group assigned.  

Università Bocconi students can transfer to another university by submitting the application to transfer to the Academic Affairs Division Desk (here you can also collect the application form) including details of the new university they intend to transfer to, the Faculty and the MSc program they wish to attend.
Students are advised to find out when the deadline for receiving transfer documents is from the university they intend to transfer to, in order to ensure that they have enough time to complete the transfer procedure.
Students who submit a transfer request during the 2 August - 30 September 2011 period do not have to enrol in the 2011-2012 academic year, while students who submit a transfer request after 3 October 2011 (and in any case by 31 December 2011 (*) must enrol for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Enrolled students who have submitted a transfer application should contact the University Fees Office (TCA) check their position regarding university fees and tuition.
The transfer application must be accompanied by:

• unofficial academic transcript and Bocconi ID card;
• receipt for payment of fees for the issue of the transfer document;
• declaration from the Università Bocconi Library that the student does not have any books still out on loan;
• authorization from ISU;
• authorization from the University Fees Office (TCA).

Students who transfer to another university cannot return to Università Bocconi within one year from the date of the transfer document. In this case, they will be admitted to the year of studies the exams which have been passed and registered in their unofficial academic transcript, give them the right to regardless of the year they were previously enrolled.
Students who intend to continue their studies at universities abroad must complete the special application form which is available from the Academic Affairs Division Desk.

(*) Since 31 December 2011 is a bank holiday, the deadline is extended to the next working day (3 January 2012).

Students who during the academic year have military service, civil service, female students in the year of birth of each child and students who are forced to interrupt studies because of serious illness and certified prolonged medical conditions can apply  to temporarily interrupt their studies in accordance with D.P.C.M. 09/04/2001.

Temporary interruption means that those students will not be able to complete any administrative operations, participate in educational activities or make use of university services offered to students. The years for which the student did not enrol do not count towards disqualification. For each year of temporary interruption students are required to pay a fixed sum for each year as set by the University Fees Office (TCA).      

After eight academic years following the end of the standard duration of the program, starting from the first initial enrolment in the university system,the student academic career is subject to a specific evaluation.

If positive it will be defined the new maximum deadline, usually corresponding to the standard duration of the program, for completing all the educational activities.

The maximum number of enrolments as "fuori corso"and as "ripetente"does not take into account periods of temporary interruption requested according to D.P.C.M. (Ministerial Decree) 09/04/2001 which is described in "Suspension, temporary interruption and resumption of University studies".

Students who have been disqualified from their Degree Program can obtain certifications attesting to their university career and the number of credit points previously earned. If students should eventually resume their studies, the credit points previously earned will be evaluated to determine if they are still valid.

Disqualification does not apply to those students who have passed all exams and only miss the final degree exam.

If students do not intend to exercise the rights they acquired by enrolling, they can withdraw from their studies at any time, ending their academic career at this University. Their intention to withdraw must be communicated in a written, clear and concise form, and is irrevocable.
The withdrawal form is to be collected, filled out and submitted to the Academic Affairs Division Desk.

The application should include a declaration stating that there is no unsettled business with ISU Bocconi (Student Assistance and Financial Aid), the Bocconi Library, and other University Offices.  The Bocconi ID card and a marca da bollo worth of 14,62 euro must be attached to the application.

Students must pay tuition and fees due up to the submission of the withdrawal form, according to the deadlines defined by the University Fees Office (TCA); student who submit the withdrawal form should contact the University Fees Office (TCA)in order to check their position with reference to any tuition and fees deadline already expired.

Students who withdraw from their studies may obtain certifications attesting to their university career and credit points earned.