Guides to the university

Students enrolled in BSc programs can obtain credit recognition (grade and credit points) for exams passed abroad in the Exchange and Double Degree Programs, which are promoted and coordinated by the Study Abroad office and the Global Alliance office, the Free-Mover Semester and Free-Mover Summer.

Specifically:
 

• students can have a maximum of 5 exams recognized for the Exchange or Free-Mover Semester programs and not more than 1 exam for the Free-Mover Summer;
• students must convert a minimum of 1 exam in order for the Exchange Program or the Free Mover experience (Semester or Summer) to be recognized in the student’s academic career;
• students cannot sit for ‘in proctoring’ exams at Bocconi relating to courses attended abroad;

the following exams, if taken abroad, cannot be recognized:

• banned courses: see list of compulsory courses which cannot be recognized;
• exams for computer skills;
• foreign language exams* taken as part of the Free Mover Summer experience;
• compulsory courses specific to other Bachelor of Science programs;
• exams passed with a grade that is not included in the scale on the conversion table used by the foreign university. In the case of Pass/Fail grades, when the grade is Pass, it may be converted into the minimum grade on the Bocconi scale.

*Please note: Starting in the 2019-2020 academic year, foreign language exams take abroad as part of the Exchange Program and Free Mover Semester can also be converted: credits for language exams are part of the maximum limit of 5 courses that can be recognized. It should be noted that with approval of recognition, the minimum exit level required by the student’s program structure will be automatically assigned.

Credit recognition for exams taken as part of Exchange, Free-Mover Semester and Free-Mover Summer Programs is not usually automatic and depends on the following credit approval procedure.

After being selected (Exchange Program) or authorized by the Study Abroad office (Free Mover Semester), before departure and after assessing the offer of the host university, students check or request authorization from Bocconi faculty in advance to have the courses they wish to sit abroad recognized in their academic career.

The courses can be:

• with Bocconi correspondence, if the course taken abroad has a corresponding Bocconi course;
• without Bocconi correspondence, if the course taken abroad does not have a corresponding Bocconi course.

Students participating in a mobility program as a Free Mover Summer student can have 1 exam recognized with Bocconi correspondence only.

The advance authorization request, together with the foreign course profile, must be sent:

• to the Course Director of the corresponding Bocconi course in the case of converting with correspondence;
• when the foreign course is without Bocconi correspondence, the authorization request will be sent to the Program Director or his/her delegate.

The advance authorization request must be sent through the appropriate procedure available on the yoU@B Diary ‘Recognition’ - International Mobility section.

Two or more exams can be merged to cover one Bocconi exam upon approval of the Course Director or the Program Director. One foreign exam cannot be used to cover two or more Bocconi exams.

The request for recognition of a foreign course with a Bocconi course (with or without any Bocconi correspondence) DOES not allow any advance change/structure of the study plan, which must be made in accordance with the rules and timelines specified in Paragraph 9.3.4 'Administrative rules, procedures and deadlines'.

After the period abroad, the University abroad issues the certifications of the exams taken. On the basis of these certifications and upon the student’s request, the Study Abroad office carries out the appropriate checks to prepare the grade recording of exams taken abroad that students wish to have recognized.

For more details, see the website http://www.ir.unibocconi.eu/, Academic Recognition paragraph of the relevant section.

Exams passed at other universities by Bocconi students are assigned the grades of the university of origin. If the grade is expressed in other scales (letters or numbers), the grade is converted out of thirty on the basis of special tables of correspondence.

In case two or more foreign exams covering one Bocconi exam, the final grade is obtained by the grade point average of the corresponding Bocconi grades obtained, using the foreign credit points specified on the Transcript issued by the host university as the weighted coefficient.

Students can also recognize additional exams (see chapter 9.4 'Additional courses').

Please note: the program structure for BSc programs taught in Italian include at least one course in English (compulsory or elective): this requirement is not applied if the student participates in the Exchange or Free Mover Program at a University where the language requested by Bocconi University with the purpose of selection/acceptance is not English.

Credit recognition for exams taken as part of the Double Degree Program with Peking University requires several steps the student must take before and after departure, following the guidelines of the Global Alliances office.

After admission to the Double Degree during the second year of the BIEM program, the student will receive instructions from Peking University on the program structure they will need to attend abroad during the two following years. With the courses taken at the partner school, the student can validate the courses from the third year of BIEM, upon approval from the Program Director (or his/her delegate). In any case, the recognition procedure for courses taken abroad is subject to the Global Alliances office receiving the transcript from Peking University.

For more information, please email: doubledegree@unibocconi.it.