GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY

The study plan includes languages in the first, second and third year.
Possible combinations are listed here below:

(1)  Students declare their native language during the admission process and can never change it during IMA in Law studies.

(2)  Any students who are native English speakers MUST choose a language other than English and other than their native language. For these students, the second language chosen during the third year must be different from the language selected during the first year.

(3)  Second language is not automatically assigned; it has to be chosen when enrolling in the 3rd year and must be different from the student's native language.

Students are allowed to change languages included in their personal study plan (see conditions and deadlines in chapter 'Administrative procedures, regulations and deadlines').

The educational offer includes the following:

• ENGLISH (first year):
  • Curricular course: B2 general - second semester
  • Preparatory courses - first semester
     
• LEGAL ENGLISH (second year):
  • Curricular course: B2 legal - first semester
     
• SECOND LANGUAGE (third year):
  • French, Spanish or German: curricular courses are offered for B1 general - second semester
  • Preparatory courses - first semester

The educational offer will be preceded by an entry-level readiness assessment test. This will direct students to the most suitable educational path.  

For further details about courses, please see “course profiles” published on the website at the page www.unibocconi.eu/courses and “course syllabi” available on the Blackboard (accessible via the yoU@B student Diary).

Knowledge may be assessed through an internal exam or recognition of a language certificate. In both cases:

• the grade will be recorded as a score out of thirty and will be included in the calculation of the Grade Point Average (GPA);
• the level of competence acquired is mentioned in the exam report and in the student’s transcript;
• students must pass the English general exam of the first year in order to sit the Legal English exam in the second year.

After passing the internal exam, a certificate can be completed at a later date, but the certificate cannot be recorded in the student's transcript. However, after a certificate for a specific language is recorded on the transcript, the internal exam can no longer be taken.

Regarding the exam for the first and second language (not including Legal English, whose exam does not include an oral part), the assessment method consists of a Bocconi exam focused on assessing four skills, in line with international certifications:

• Reading comprehension
• Writing skills
• Listening comprehension
• Speaking skills

Students can sit the exam (“general” mode) starting from the end of second semester, after the end of the teaching period (May-June for English and other languages, December-January for Legal English).

5 exam sessions are scheduled, during the following periods:

1. May-June
2. June-July
3. late August-September
4. October
5. January-February

With the exception of the Legal English exam (only proposed at B2 legal level), which only has a written part, the exam includes a written part (focused on writing, reading, listening) and an oral part (focused on speaking). The two parts are generally held on the same day, subject to possible extensions due to the number of students registered for the exam.

Students must register through the exam session booking tool in the yoU@B Student Diary.

Further details on exam methods and assessment criteria are available in the course syllabus posted on Blackboard.

Recording a certificate in the academic transcript as an alternative to the internal exam can be completed both for the first language and for the second language, while it cannot be completed for Legal English.

It is specified that:

• credits for the first language - first year - shall be calculated in the number of credits required for enrolling in the second year, only if the certificate is submitted by 11 July 2024;
• in order for it to be recorded, students must submit the request using the online procedure available in the yoU@B student diary in the Language Center widget (see submission methods at page www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter, 'Certification Recognition' section) and do not need to register for the Bocconi internal exam;
• students can apply to convert a certification only after enrollment in the program year when the language course being recognized is taught;
• students enrolled in the first year of the program can submit a language certification conversion request as an alternative to the internal exam for the first language starting on 11 September 2023 and in any case after completing first-year enrollment.

International certifications can be recorded in the academic curriculum provided that they are:

• officially recognized by the Language Center and have been taken at an officially recognized test center in Italy or abroad;
• equal to or higher than the minimum exit level requirement;
• submitted for recording within 3 years after sitting the international certification exam (2 years for the TOEFL and for IELTS, according to the provisions of the certifying agency);
• submitted by the student: only original certifications or statement of results;
• verifiable by the University.

NB: Please note that for some certificates, the Language Center must be authorized to view the results in order to verify the authenticity of the certificate. Authorization must be requested before sitting the exam. If this authorization is not provided, the necessary verification operations cannot be completed and, as a result, the certificate conversion request submitted by the student will not be taken into consideration.

More information (list of recognized certificates, conversion tables, etc.) is available on the website www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter, 'Certification Recognition' section.

Under his/her responsibility, the student must carefully check the certifications which can be recognized and the relating conversion rules, before forwarding the certification recognition request. 
In order to support students who want to earn an international certification, the Language Center offers:

• courses to prepare for some certifications (details available on the website at www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter in the “Supplementary Activities” section);
• materials for preparing for certificates at the Language Lab (details on the website www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter in the ‘Self-Study’ section);
• test center service for some certificates, including:
  • for English: IELTS Academic
  • for French: DFP Affaires

Detailed information and the list of certifications that can be completed are available on the page www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter in the “Certifications” section.

In addition to attending lectures, learning languages requires a constant commitment to self-study.
The Language Center offers:

• tutoring service, i.e. practice sessions for students taking preparatory courses for curricular languages, that can only be accessed by reservation through the “Appuntamenti/Appointments” procedure available on the yoU@B student diary;
• various materials for preparing certifications and the Bocconi exam;
• digital applications and tools to enhance language study.

A Language Exchange activity for students is also organized, along with a film festival for movies in their original language.

For more information: www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter in the 'Self-Study' and 'Other Activities' sections.

Curricular languages can be recorded as additional activities (see chapter 'Administrative Procedures, Regulations and Deadlines'), either by passing a Bocconi exam or through recognition of a certificate.

Moreover, also non-curricular languages (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Portuguese) can be recorded in the academic transcript but only as additional activities.

As no internal exams are organized for such languages, it is possible to register only the result of a certification (score converted in a mark out of thirty). 

For further detailed info on recognition of certifications, please see the website at www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter in the 'Certification Recognition' section.

Starting in the 2022-2023 academic year, the curricular course Computer Skills for Law (cod. 50019) will be managed by the new Department of Computing Sciences.

For more information, see the website www.unibocconi.eu/courses.

Bocconi University is a Test Center issuing ECDL/ICDL Full Standard and Advanced (ECDL/ICDL Full Standard or ECDL Core), EPM (European Project Management), Digital Marketing and MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist) certifications. Exams are held each week according to a calendar which is regularly updated. Students can purchase ICDL products (at a discounted cost) online, view the calendar and sign up for the modules via the yoU@B student Diary, through the IT certifications box.

In order to register for the Computer Science for Law exam (second partial or general exam), students must first complete the full ECDL/ICDL certification (ECDL/ICDL Full Standard or ECDL Core) or one of the equivalent certifications recognized by the University.

For more information on IT certifications, see the website at www.unibocconi.eu/itec in the 'IT Certifications' section.

To improve IT skills, students can attend extracurricular IT Skills courses organized by the IT Education Center, free of charge, which are part of the extracurricular activities (see chapter 8.1. of this Guide to the University).

These courses, held in English and/or Italian, have limited spots and a duration ranging from 8 to 24 hours. Participation is recognized through the issuance of an Open Badge, a digital certificate that can be shared online (LinkedIn) or on a CV.

Supplementary IT activities, which are optional and cross-curricular for all degree programs (BSc, MSc, IMA, Specialized Master, PhD) focus on a variety of topics, including:

• Microsoft Office at an advanced level;
• Applications for Mathematical, Statistical and Econometric Analysis;
• Programming in Visual Basic for Applications, Java and Python;
• Data Analysis, Business Intelligence and Big Data;
• Project Management;
• Social Media, Web Analytics, Website Creation;
• Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cyber Security.

Registration for courses must be completed through the yoU@B Student Diary, in the "Sign Up for Various Activities" box. Registration will be available approximately four weeks before the start of each activity.

For more information, see the website at www.unibocconi.eu/itec, ‘Supplementary Activities’ section.