GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY

During the academic year, teaching for the Integrated Master of Arts in Giurisprudenza [Law] will be organized in 2 semesters.
For the 2020-2021 academic year, teaching will be held during the following periods:

• 1st semester: from Monday 7 September 2020 to Saturday 5 December 2020;
  Monday 7 September 2020: the Welcome Day with a program presentation by the Dean of the School of Law and CLMG Program Director addressed to students of the first year
• 2nd semester: from Thursday 4 February 2021 to Friday 14 May 2021.

One credit point corresponds to 8 hours of lectures. For compulsory courses in the Integrated Master of Arts in Giurisprudenza [Law], additional teaching hours consisting of practical exercises and other class activities that aim to improve the student's understanding of the topics covered in class without adding new topics to the course content may be required for each credit.

Class attendance is not compulsory. However it is strongly recommended, since it meets the proposed educational model designed to favor gradual learning, the active participation of students in class and the creation of a dialog between students and teachers.
For some courses the 'Attendance' recording online procedure may be activated and assessment methods may be different for attending and non-attending students.

As for the technologic innovations of learning activities, using personal computers is a compulsory condition for attending the lectures of some courses, therefore students should be equipped with a personal laptop PC. For further info, see paragraph 1.7.1 Student's personal laptop.

Educational activities are organized into class groups: in the 2020-21 academic year, for the compulsory courses included in the study plan of the first 4 years of studies there are 2 class groups (no. 19 and 20) which are made up of around 150 students each.

Class groups are allocated to each student for all compulsory courses of the year of studies in which the student is enrolled before the start of lectures and each class group is assigned a specific classroom for the majority of the courses. All students belonging to the same class group follow the lectures in their assigned classroom and have the same faculty members.
For course planning purposes (number of students and places available) the allocation to the class group is binding. The class group structure is the same for the whole academic year.

With reference to the educational activities, student allocation to the class groups include the following procedure:

• For compulsory courses the class group is allocated before the start of lectures;
• In the fourth and fifth year of studies, the program structure includes compulsory courses to be chosen by the students on the basis of the Major chosen. For such activities the class group is assigned before the start of the relating lectures;
• for electives, the class group is assigned when choosing the elective courses upon enrollment in the academic year (it can be viewed in the personalized class timetable after the period for choosing the electives is over);

Students are advised to follow the indications given by faculty members during lectures. If registration is required, students may consult the yoU@B student Diary for a list of activities and sign-up methods.

Quantitative Methods Preparatory Courses are courses which last several weeks and which are held during the first semester of lectures.
Math Preparatory courses are designed to reinforce a few mathematical concepts at a pre-university level. This helps students to start university with greater confidence and comprehension. The main topics covered include: equations, inequality, coordinate geometry, trigonometry, power functions, exponentials and logarithms.

Attendance is highly recommended; there is no exam at the completion of these courses. The class timetable and any changes are available on the yoU@B student's Diary and at www.unibocconi.eu/classtimetable.
The course profiles of Quantitative Methods Preparatory courses are published on-line at www.unibocconi.eu/courses.

The class timetable has been planned so that educational activities are mainly concentrated in either the morning or the afternoon, in order to make it easier for students to dedicate the other part of the day to individual study.
In the first semester of the first year, for example, CLMG students have lectures on 2 mornings (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and 3 afternoons (Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays) a week; in the second semester CLMG students have lessons on 3 mornings (Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays) and 2 afternoons (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) a week.

The years of studies following the first one have a different class timetable, which is more structured as the program structure also includes compulsory courses chosen by the students in the second, in the fourth and in the fifth years and elective courses in the fifth year.

The first, second, third year class timetable includes timetable slots - different in the first and second semesters - that are completely dedicated to foreign languages. This ensures that other lectures and language lectures do not overlap each other.

In the same way, the timetable of the fifth year includes timetable slots - different in the first and second semesters - that are completely dedicated to elective courses; this is aimed at avoiding overlapping between the class timetable of elective courses.

Due to the complexity of the class timetable structure, it is not possible to exclude any class timetable overlapping between elective course lectures.

Students are therefore encouraged to carefully check the class timetable of elective courses before choosing the courses to be included in the study plan, specifically if they wish to choose compulsory courses as elective courses for fourth -or fifth year students or elective courses from the Master of Science programs open to the CLMG Program.

With reference to the fourth year of studies, students are free to choose between courses belonging to the same track or different tracks: the class timetable should be verified if choosing courses from different tracks, as it cannot be guaranteed they will not overlap.

In addition, there may also be some complementary learning activities scheduled to review some of the concepts dealt with during the normal teaching sessions. These activities are generally held at a different time from the lectures (usually in the evening).

In general, no educational activities are scheduled during the lunch break on Fridays, both in first and second semester, this period being reserved for student group activities.

The general class timetable and any changes are published on the yoU@B student Diary and on the University's website at www.unibocconi.eu/classtimetable.

After students have finalized their enrollment or after enrolling in the academic year, they can view their daily class timetable and the personalized class timetable from both yoU@B and on the University website at http://agenda.unibocconi.it/.

On graduation days listed below, lectures for all courses and all programs (Bachelor of Science and Master of Science programs and the Integrated Master of Arts in Giurisprudenza [Law]) are suspended:
 

• Friday 16 October 2020 and Saturday 17 October 2020;
• Wednesday 7 April 2021, Thursday 8 April 2021 and Friday 9 April 2021.

During the partial exam periods, listed below, lectures in all courses are suspended:

• 1st semester: from Monday 19 October 2020 to Saturday 24 October 2020;
• 2nd semester: from Monday 15 March 2021 to Saturday 27 March 2021.

In addition, lectures are also suspended on the following days:

• From Saturday 3 April 2021 to Tuesday 6 April 2021;
• Saturday 1 May 2021.

During office hours, students have the opportunity to consult with teachers. This gives students the chance to seek further explanations or clarifications of the topics that were not fully understood during lectures.
The office hours timetable can be found on the website at www.unibocconi.eu/officehours or in the yoU@B student Diary, which provides a direct link to the page.

If decided by the professor, the office hours may be carried out only upon reservation by the student: in this case, the reservation can be made exclusively through the yoU@B student Diary.
At the professor’s discretion, students are invited to check in advance the office hours methods.

For some courses, faculty members assisted by a tutor who also assists the students for a better comprehension of the topics covered in class, in case studies and in the exercises. The tutor also manages the online community. The tutor can also be an assistant in class during lectures which require the use of software or for case discussions.

For information about courses that include Teaching Assistantship (teaching assistance) activities, the following document can be consulted:
 

• List of teaching assistants 2020-2021 academic year (available on September)

Information regarding the 1st semester will be available by the end of September and information regarding courses offered in the 2nd semester will be available by the end of February.

For many years, Bocconi has used a detailed evaluation system designed to monitor the educational quality of each course, which is based on the student's direct active input.
This includes:

• checks carried out through "class group representatives", appointed to represent the entire class group by liaising with the faculty, acting as their spokesperson with the task of presenting their observations and suggestions and outlining any difficulties that may arise during lectures. For evaluation purposes, the role of "class representatives" is to create an environment which favors more interaction between faculty and students. As a matter of fact, the Course Director is invited to periodically meet with these students, and at the end of the semester, discuss with them the general outcome of teaching. Also, upon his/her own initiative, the Program Director can meet class representatives in order to check their opinions on the methods of the different courses in which the educational path is structured. Further details on the class representatives and on student representatives can generally be found on the website at http://www.unibocconi.eu/ in "Student Representation";
• gathering opinions through questionnaires (generally distributed through an online procedure in the yoU@B Diary) includes the following surveys taking place in specific periods of the student’s academic career:

1. mid-semester evaluation of teaching (so called "mid-term evaluation") carried out voluntarily by students at the request of faculty members, to gather information on the teaching quality and course progress and shedding light on any problems in a timely fashion, allowing corrective action to be implemented before the end of the course;
2. end-semester evaluation of teaching carried out close to the end of lectures; it involves all curricular courses in the degree programs and all students enrolled in them, no matter the course attendance (in case of no attendance or attendance to only a few lectures, students must fill out an ad hoc questionnaire reserved to “non-attending students”). Questionnaires are completed electronically through the use of an online procedure, and can be accessed through a link on the yoU@B student diary (via tablet, PC or smartphone);
3. evaluation of the overall university experience questionnaire, systematically involving all the students who are about to complete their studies (when making the graduation reservation). It aims to gather information on students' global impressions regarding the quality and effectiveness of the program attended, their study experience and on other support services (e.g. international mobility, Career Service, Funding and Housing). These questionnaires are also completed electronically through the use of an online procedure and are compulsory, as they are part of the requirements for completing the procedure for registering for a graduation session. The online questionnaire procedure can be completed via tablet, PC or smartphone and can be accessed for a specified period of time through a special link communicated to the student when registering for the graduation session.