GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY

During the academic year, teaching for Bachelor of Science Programs will be organized in 2 semesters.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, teaching will be held during the following periods:

First year

First-year welcome events are scheduled starting on Wednesday 30 August through Wednesday 6 September, with presentations by the School Deans and Program Directors.

First, second and third year

• 1st semester: from Wednesday 6 September 2023 to Wednesday 6 December 2023;
• 2nd semester: from Monday 5 February 2024 to Friday 10 May 2024.

As a general rule, one credit point corresponds to 8 hours of lectures. For some general courses in the first two years of Bachelor Programs the Course Director can request to add up to a maximum of 2 additional hours for each credit point.
These complementary learning activities include practical exercises and other class activities that help the understanding of the subject matter discussed in the classroom without adding new topics to the course content.

Regarding progressive changes in the learning methods used, using a computer is a compulsory condition to attend the lectures of some courses. Each student should therefore be equipped with a personal laptop PC. For further info, see paragraph 1.7.1. Student's personal laptop computer.

The 2023-2024 academic year will include the following three methods of delivering lessons:

• Synchronous Blended: Lessons will take place exclusively in synchronous mode in the classroom. However, at the discretion of the faculty, a limited number of lessons (for a maximum of one hour per credit) may be dedicated to distance learning to combine traditional teaching with the use of specific teaching methods. This standard model can be applied to both compulsory and elective courses.
• Advanced: Lessons will take place both in synchronous mode in the classroom and synchronous and asynchronous mode remotely. The Advanced mode implies the use of innovative teaching methods, combining exercises and tools of various kinds. The course structure and the activities will be communicated in detail in the course syllabus. The Advanced mode can be applied to both compulsory and elective courses.
• Fully Online: Lessons will take place exclusively in synchronous remote mode. This mode can be applied to elective courses and, in exceptional cases only, to compulsory courses.

Video recordings of lectures will not be available for any of the three teaching methods – neither in person, nor online, synchronous or asynchronous.
The teaching delivery method adopted for individual courses is indicated in the course syllabus that will be published in the website at www.unibocconi.eu/courses.

POSSIBLE EXCEPTIONS FROM IN-PERSON LESSON PARTICIPATION

One of the guiding principles of Bocconi's new educational model is that of ever-increasing inclusion. For this reason, in order to welcome and facilitate students afflicted with certain conditions that prevent them from physically attending lessons at the University, the following categories of students will be allowed to follow lessons remotely during the 2023-2024 academic year:

• students with serious certified illnesses that prevent them from coming to campus for a minimum period of 20 days;
• students unable to travel to Italy from their country of residence due to mobility restrictions (e.g. obtaining a visa);
• students participating in curricular internship programs both in Italy and abroad for the lessons scheduled during the period in which the internship takes place, provided that the internship has already been activated by the Internship Office at the time of the exception request; students may request online attendance for courses in the year of the program which includes the internship in the study plan. 

Video recordings of in-person lectures will be provided only for authorized students, and will remain available for 24 hours after the lesson.
The procedures for submitting your request will be published in the yoU@B Student Diary > Teaching widget, before the start of the semester.

Please note that there are no exceptions for exams which must still be taken in person.

ATTENDANCE

Class attendance at lectures is not compulsory. However, it is strongly recommended, as 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.

Some courses may include attendance recording. Depending on the student's attendance, there may be different assessment methods for attending and non-attending students: when attendance is a decisive element for assigning the “attending” status to a student, the only method available for recording participation is through Attendance, the University online procedure. When courses include Attendance recording, students must record their attendance at lectures in accordance with the principles of the University Honor Code and the Students Code of Conduct.

For the 2023-2024 academic year, where attendance is a determining factor for attributing the ‘attending’ status to students, classroom and online attendance will be counted only when the lesson is scheduled remotely for the entire class. If there are students exceptionally authorized to follow lessons remotely (see POSSIBLE EXCEPTIONS FROM IN-PERSON LESSON PARTICIPATION), the recording of their online attendance will not be counted for lessons that take place in person in the classroom for the rest of the class.

Educational activities are organized into class groups. For the 2023-2024 academic year, there are 23 class groups for compulsory courses of the first year of studies, 23 for the compulsory courses of the second year, 23 for the compulsory courses of the third year. For each course, the class groups of the Bachelor programs held in Italian have about 120 students each. The class groups of the Bachelor programs taught in English have about 105 students each; this number is different depending on the program and year of studies. The WBB, BAI and BGL programs are an exception, which has class groups with fewer students.
The number of class groups can be slightly different one year of studies to another.
Specifically:
 

For all compulsory courses of the year of studies the student is enrolled in, each student is allocated a single class group before the start of lectures.
Each class group is assigned a specific classroom for most of the courses. All students belonging to the same class group attend lectures in the same classroom and have the same faculty members.

To facilitate planning of educational activities (class group numbers and classroom capacity) students cannot change their assigned class group.
The class groups remain the same for the entire academic year.

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

An e-learning class group for a very limited number of elective courses will be activated.
In the e-learning class groups, traditional educational activities in class are replaced, by participation in specific on-line activities, both asynchronous and synchronous.
Online activities are set and scheduled by the Course Director.

For further information, check the course profiles.

Method of choice 
For method of choice see "Administrative rules, procedures and deadlines".

Course profiles and exam assessment methods
If a course includes both traditional class groups and e-learning ones, the course profiles are identical. However, due to different teaching approaches, faculty can diversify supplementary exercises and/or other related activities by offering e-learning students alternate activities.

The exams are held at the university, following traditional methods (in person); the exam calendar is the same for the two class groups. Distance exams are not offered by the university.
For information relating to credit points, language of instruction, semester and 3-y degree Programs offering these courses, please check the course profiles published on the website at: www.unibocconi.eu/courses.

The Preparatory Math Course (Crash Courses) is dedicated to students in their first year of the various Bachelors programs. They are offered using blended learning, i.e. part of the course is online and part is in class.

The online part of the course is held starting from July. In-class teaching is held during the first-year welcome events with 12-15 hours of class, depending on the 3-y degree program.

Students should complete the online portion of the course before the in-class portion.

The Preparatory Math Course is 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 in the online part include: sets, special sets, exponentiations, roots, polynomial algebra, equations, inequations and coordinate geometry. The main topics covered in the in-class part are different from the topics covered in the online part and more focused on the student’s specific Bachelor program.

Enrollment in the Preparatory Math Course is not needed. However, both completing the on-line portion and attending the in-class portion is highly recommended. There is no exam at the completion of these courses. The class timetable and the class group are available in the yoU@B Diary. The course profiles of the Preparatory Math Course are published on-line at www.unibocconi.eu/courses in Crash Courses (Math).

Some courses also include repeat class groups for students who are behind normal academic progress, i.e., students who have not yet passed their exams for the previous year or years. If they wish, these students must attend the lectures in the class group dedicated to them.

For the course profile and learning methods for repeating class groups, students are advised to follow the instructions given by the faculty. Detailed information on teaching in these courses (course syllabuses, exam methods, faculty office hours) can be requested at each Department.

Students who wish to attend these courses can sign-up for the class groups they are interested in until the maximum number of places available is reached.

The list of repeating class groups along with any sign-up methods (code of the activity, deadline to sign up and number of places available) is published on the website at www.unibocconi.eu/classtimetable.

If students are required to sign-up, they can view the activities they can sign up for in their yoU@B student Diary.

Students admitted to these class groups receive a personalized message via yoU@B student Diary.

In order to allow students to also attend lectures for courses for which no repeating class groups are scheduled, students who have not yet passed their exams for the previous years can attend lectures, if scheduled, in class groups for previous year. In this case students must contact the Secretary's Office of the Department and the Course Director in advance.

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, CLEAM students have lectures on 3 mornings (Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays) and 2 afternoons (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) per week, while students enrolled in the other programs have lectures on 2 mornings (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and 3 afternoons (Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays) per week.

In the second semester, those students who had lectures on 3 afternoons and 2 mornings in first semester will have lectures on 3 mornings and 2 afternoons, and vice versa for the second group.

Unlike the first year, the following years are structured in a more complex way as the study plan also includes major compulsory courses/courses to be chosen by the students (in the second and third year of studies) and elective courses (in the third year of studies).

For all programs, except for the BIEM, BIEF and BIG, the class timetable includes timetable slots - different for the first and second semesters - completely dedicated to major compulsory courses/compulsory courses chosen by the students, languages and elective courses. This ensures that these specific typologies of activities do not clash with each other. However, some elective courses have changed typology from compulsory courses or major compulsory courses/compulsory courses chosen by the students and can have lectures scheduled in the timetable slots dedicated to these typologies.

For BIEM and BIEF, due to the high number of compulsory courses/compulsory courses chosen by the students, it is not possible to have timetable slots completely dedicated to these typologies.
Also for BIG, due to the high number of compulsory courses/courses chosen by the students, it is not possible to have timetable slots completely dedicated to these typologies different from the slots dedicated to elective courses.
In addition, due to the complexity of the timetable structure, it is not possible to exclude any lecture overlaps between elective courses due to the high number of courses (for further information, see paragraph 9.3 Choice of Elective Courses).

Students are therefore always recommended to verify the class timetable for elective courses before choosing the courses to be included in their study plan.

In addition, there may also be some complementary learning activities scheduled aimed to review some of the concepts dealt with during the normal teaching sessions. In general, they are held at different times from lectures (usually in the evening).
No educational activities are generally scheduled during the lunch break on Fridays, both in the first and second semester, this period being reserved for student group activities.

The class timetable, any changes and information on how teaching activities are published in the yoU@B student Diary and on the University's website at www.unibocconi.eu/classtimetable.

After students have enrolled in the academic year, they can view the personalized class timetable and daily timetable from the student Diary.
 

During graduation days listed below, lectures for all courses and all programs are suspended as follows:

• Friday 20 October 2023 and Saturday 21 October 2023;
• Friday 5 April 2024 and Saturday 6 April 2024.

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

• 1st semester: from Friday 20 October 2023 to Tuesday 31 October 2023;
• 2nd semester: from Monday 11 March 2024 to Tuesday 19 March 2024.

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

• Wednesday 1st November 2023;
• from Friday 29 March 2024 to Thursday 4 April 2024;
• From Thursday 25 April 2024 and Saturday 27 April 2024;
• Wednesday 1st May 2024.

During office hours, students have the opportunity to consult with teachers. This gives students the chance to seek further explanations or clarifications of topics not fully understood during lectures.

The office hours timetable can be found on the website at http://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 are assisted by teaching assistants, who provide assistance to faculty and students. This includes assisting students to understand the main topics of the course, case studies, projects and exercises and managing the online community.

Teaching assistants can also provide assistance in class during lectures, including the use of software or discussion of cases.

For information about courses and teaching assistantship (teaching assistants), the following document can be consulted:

• Teaching assistants list 2023-2024 academic year

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 check the educational quality of each course, which is based on listening and the student's direct active input. This includes:

• feedback from "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. The role of class representatives is also to create an environment which favors successful interaction between faculty and students. For this purpose, the Course Director is invited to periodically meet with class representatives, 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 them to check their opinions on the methods of the different courses in which the educational path is structured. Further details on class representatives and student representatives can generally be found on the Internet site at www.unibocconi.eu/ in "Student Representation";
• gathering opinions through questionnaires (generally made through an on-line procedure in the yoU@B Diary) includes the following surveys taking place in specific periods of the student’s academic career:
  • 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;
  • end-semester evaluation of teaching: carried out close to the end of each teaching semester, 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”). This is the most important tool for students to express their opinions on how the various courses are organized and conducted. The evaluations provided, whose anonymity is protected, are essential for identifying which aspects should be corrected or improved for future editions of the courses in order to ensure increasingly higher quality standards. Questionnaires are completed electronically through the use of an online procedure, and can be accessed through a link on the yoU@B student diary and on the BlackBoard platform;
  • evaluation of the overall university experience questionnaire: addressed to all the students who are about to complete their studies. It aims to gather information on students' global impressions regarding their study experience and the program attended, as well as the quality and effectiveness of the main facilities at the University and some support services (e.g. international mobility, internship, Employer Relations & Career Services). 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 accessed for a specified period of time through a special link communicated to the student when registering for the graduation session.