GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY

The information in this Guide refers only to activities and regulations in place at Bocconi University. For activities and regulations in place at Politecnico, please check the PoliMi widget available in the yoU@B Diary.

The education model adopted by the Master of Science programs is characterized by teaching activities to encourage interaction between students and faculty.
In addition to traditional lectures, activities include case studies, practical exercises for which students are asked to prepare beforehand and active class participation. Faculty can also assign individual and/or groups assignments, if necessary, assisted by a tutor.
For courses included in the degree program, one credit point corresponds to 8 hours of lectures.
A maximum of 2 hours of the total hours of a compulsory course (8) can be organized dividing the class group into 2 smaller groups.

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.

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 par. 5.1.1 Bocconi teaching model and lectures), 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.

Teaching activities are organized into class groups. Students enrolled in the Master of Science in Cyber Risk Strategy and Governance” (CYBER) and Transformative Sustainability (TS) in the 2023-2024 academic year shall be assigned respectively class groups 25 and 26 for the compulsory courses in the degree program requirements in the first year.
For educational activities, students are assigned to a class group as follows:

• for compulsory courses, class groups are assigned before lectures begin. Each class group is assigned a specific classroom for the majority of courses. All students belonging to the same class group attend the lectures in the same classroom and have the same faculty. To facilitate educational activities planning (class group numbers and classroom capacity), students cannot change their assigned class group;
• for languages the class group is assigned when the choice is made through Punto Blu (see chapter 3 Language);
• for electives, the class group is assigned when choosing the elective courses upon enrollment in the academic year.

Preparatory courses are offered before the start of first-year lectures (in the period 24 August - 5 September 2023). These courses are an important tool which helps students to face the subjects characterizing the first year of the Master of Science program.

As Master of Science programs are more specific than the Bachelor of Science programs and as the composition of class groups is heterogeneous, attendance is strongly recommended because they help all students enrolled take on the work involved in the university experience.

The course profiles of Master of Science programs have therefore been created taking the basic knowledge of the undergraduate programs acquired and known for granted. There is no exam at the completion of these courses.

Considering that the educational activities are offered across lots of MSc programs, it is not possible to exclude overlapping between lectures of preparatory courses, because they are more numerous than the time slots available.

Students do not need to sign up for these courses. Each student is assigned an attending class group that may be different from the group assigned for other courses. This can be viewed in the class timetable in the yoU@B Diary.

The class timetable and the class group are available in the yoU@B Diary. The course profiles are published on-line at www.unibocconi.eu/courses.

For students duly enrolled in the first year of a program, preparatory courses for all second curricular languages are available in the second semester of the 2023-2024 academic year.

Curricular language courses include information in the specific area of economics. Therefore, a suitable initial level is required in order for attendance in curricular courses during the semester after the preparatory courses to be beneficial and effective.

Preparatory courses are offered in the second semester of the first year of the program for French, Spanish and German at the A2 level, along with preparatory courses for Italian at the A1 level.

Course profiles for preparatory courses are available online (yoU@B and Blackboard).
There is no exam at the completion of these courses.

The first year class timetable
The Bocconi class timetable has been planned so that educational activities connected to first-year compulsory courses 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.

The timetable is structured to provide specific time slots, different in each semester. These time slots are reserved for specific types of activities (compulsory courses, languages). Thus, class timetable clashes between compulsory courses, electives and languages are avoided.

Lectures that require groups may be organized at times that are different from those planned for normal lectures.

The second year class timetable
In the second year, students complete their study plan by selecting elective courses, in compliance with the rules defined for your Master of Science program, which will be described in more detail below.
In general, it is not always possible to exclude any course overlapping between lectures of other courses.

Students are recommended to check the class timetable of elective courses before choosing the courses to be included in the study plan.
The second year class timetable for Bocconi also includes time slots for languages.

In general, for both years of MSc programs there are no teaching activities during the lunch break on Fridays, both in the first and second semester, as it is reserved for student group activities.
The general class timetable and any changes are published on the http://agenda.unibocconi.it/ Student Diary and on the University's website at www.unibocconi.eu/classtimetable.
After initial enrollment and the enrollment in the academic year, students can view and print their personalized class timetable via the yoU@B student Diary.
Teaching activities held by Bocconi University are divided into 2 semesters each academic year.

For students enrolled in the first year in the Cyber MSc in the 2023-2024 a.y., teaching activities in the 1st semester will be held at Politecnico di Milano after lectures for the seminar Introduction to Cyber Risk have been completed at Bocconi. Inversely, teaching activities in the 2nd semester will be held at Bocconi after lectures for the seminar Social Engineering have been completed at PoliMi.

For students enrolled in the second year in the Cyber MSc in the 2023-2024 a.y., teaching activities in the 1st semester will be held at Bocconi after lectures for the Ethics Seminar have been completed at PoliMi. Inversely, teaching activities in the 2nd semester will be held at PoliMi after lectures for the Behavioural Skills Seminar have been completed at Bocconi.

In particular, teaching held by Bocconi University will take place during the following periods:

FIRST YEAR

1st semester:

• Thursday 7 and Friday 8 September (Introduction to Cyber Risk seminar) ;

2nd semester:

• From Wednesday 7 February 2024 to Friday 10 May 2024.
  Language courses start on 5 February; remote teaching is guaranteed for classes on 5 and 6 February, to avoid overlapping with PoliMi courses.

SECOND YEAR

1st semester:

• Thursday 7 and Friday 8 September 2023: Cyber Forum Bocconi.
• Monday 11 September 2023: start of teaching at Bocconi;
• 12 to 13 September 2023: Ethics Seminar at PoliMi; remote learning is guaranteed for classes taught at Bocconi.
• End of teaching: Wednesday 6 December 2023.
• Language courses start on 11 September 2023.
• In order to avoid overlapping with the Cyber Forum at Bocconi and the Ethics Seminar at PoliMi, remote learning is guaranteed for classes taught at Bocconi from 6 to 8 September 2023 and on 12-13 September 2023.

2nd semester:

• From Wednesday 14 February to Saturday 17 February 2024 (Behavioural Skills Seminar)

For details on the dates during which teaching activities will be held at Politecnico di Milano, see the ‘PoliMi’ widget available in the yoU@B diary.

For students enrolled in the first year in the Transformative Sustainability MSc in the 2023-2024 a.y., teaching activities in the 1st semester will be held at Bocconi; inversely, teaching activities in the 2nd semester will be held at PoliMi, except of lectures of languages.

In particular, teaching held by Bocconi University will take place during the following periods:

FIRST YEAR

1st semester:

• from Wednesday 6 September to Wednesday 6 December 2023.

For details on the dates during which teaching activities will be held at Politecnico di Milano, see the ‘PoliMi’ widget available in the yoU@B diary.

With reference to the teaching activities held in Bocconi, lectures for all courses and all degree programs are suspended:

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

Teaching activities are also suspended in the periods below for all courses, due to the exam sessions for partial exams:

• 1st semester: from Monday 23 October 2023 to Saturday 28 October 2023;
• 2nd semester: from Monday 11 March 2024 to Saturday 16 March 2024.

Teaching activities 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 to Saturday 27 April 2024;
• Monday 1st May 2024.

All courses have a Course Director who writes the course program, organizes assessment methods and textbooks, and is responsible for ensuring consistency of both teaching and assessment of his/her class groups. The Course Director must also organize the teaching staff of all class groups of his/her course. He/she is responsible for the individual result of course evaluation questionnaires for each class groups in the course.

Some courses offer tutor assistance. Tutoring includes support to the faculty and to student teams working on case studies, projects, in-class practical exercises, and management of the online community. It may also involve lectures that require the use of software.

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

• List of teaching assistants 2023-2024 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.

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 for Bocconi professors can also be found in the yoU@B student Diary and/or on the website at www.unibocconi.eu/studentconsultationhours.
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 many years, Bocconi has used a detailed evaluation system designed to monitor the educational quality of each course, based on listening and direct active input from students.

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 the class representatives and student representatives can generally be found on the website at www.unibocconi.eu/ in "Student Representation";

• gathering opinions through questionnaires including the following periodic surveys taking place in specific periods of the student’s academic career and, as regards the study path at Bocconi, includes:
  
  1. Mid-semester evaluation of teaching (so called "mid-term evaluation"): carried out voluntarily by students at the faculty member’s request, 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 each teaching semester, it involves all curricular courses and all students enrolled in them (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.
  
  3. 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 two Universities and some support services used at Bocconi and at PoliMi (e.g. international mobility, internship, Employer 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. For details about the specific methods of gathering student opinions used by Politecnico, please consult the PoliMi website.