Guidelines for writing the exchange report

Transcription

1 Guidelines for writing the exchange report First name and Surname: Martin Fett Host University: Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza Period of study: Autumn Term 2010/ ACADEMIC INFORMATION General information about the host university The University of Rome La Sapienza with its ca. 145,000 students is one of the biggest universities of the world and by far the biggest one in Europe. As you easily can imagine, academic institutions in Italy are chaotic per se, and the most ancient university of Rome is a perfect example of how badly organized an Italian institution can be. It has 21 faculties and I was matriculated at the Faculty of Economics (Facoltà di Economia) but also attended lectures at the Faculty of Communication (Facoltà di Comunicazione), which I could do without any problems very easily. The university is located all over Rome, but there is a campus ( città universitaria ) on which most of the faculties are. The name città universitaria (university city) can really be taken literally. It contains most of the faculties of the university and is huge, with an own Post office, cafeteria etc. The faculty of economics is just around the corner, in a big (and ugly) building, probably built in the 70s. Two out of the three courses I attended took place in that building. The other one (the one offered by the communication faculty) was in the città universitaria. In the faculty of economics there are three important facilities, besides the lecture halls. a) There is the ESN (Erasmus Student Network). A registration in that network is a good possibility for every incoming student to get to know other Erasmus-students. Once you paid 5 Euro you get an ESN-membership card, valid for the time of your semester at the Sapienza University and can take part in trips around Italy, organized by ESN. b) The computer room. With approximately 100 PCs it is really big and you always find a spot to access the internet or work for your projects. The computers are not that fast, but for working on documents or on the internet they are perfect. c) The Erasmus office: It is located next to the computer room. And although the responsible people are not very friendly (and only speak Italian!) it is your first spot to go when you come to Rome! There you get matriculated and receive your student ID. Course description and teaching situation I left Lugano having a Learning Agreement in my hands on which I decided to take five courses. When I arrived in Rome, I soon had to realize that none (!) of the courses I wanted to attend, took place in that semester. Either they have been cancelled completely or postponed to the next semester. Especially for my course which I had to take, Data Analysis, it was really annoying, because I asked the responsible of the Erasmus Office in Rome if it took place, and she confirmed that.

2 But now? Everything was different. And I immediately had to realize: Hey, I am in Italy, on the biggest university of Europe it is all a little different here... In the beginning it was not easy to find suitable courses for Master students. Either because there was no (up-to-date) information to be found on the website or because of the strike of the academics. Sciopero, the Italian word for strike, was one of the most essential words I learned in my Erasmus-semester right at the beginning. The researchers went on strike for three weeks that is why classes started a little later the Italian way. Choice of my classes OK, but back to my choice of the courses. I finally found three nice courses: a) International Marketing, b) Creazione di Valore nel settore della Moda, c) Analisi Psicologica e Semiotica della Pubblicità- a) International Marketing was a course offered especially for Erasmus-students. Usually the University of Rome offers some classes only for the foreign students and those are the only lectures taught in English language. The lecturer was a guest-lecturer, an Italian who was able to speak an acceptable English (which is pretty uncommon among Italians!) and that course was one of the courses in which I was able to learn the most. Although the course was very theoretical it was interesting as well, because it had a different approach than ordinary Marketing classes and should rather be named International Management. The class was the perfect opportunity to get to know other foreign students and I therefore strongly recommend attending classes offered to Erasmus-students. The lecture took place two times a week (each for 3 hours) and the final exam had 6, 9 or 11 ECTS. You could choose by answering as many questions as you want, how many ECTS you want to obtain. b) Creazione di valore nel settore della moda (Value creation within the fashion industry) was another class I took. It had 9 ECTS, was also twice a week (each for 2 hours) and had a midterm as well as a final exam. That course was very Italian not only that the teaching language was completely in Italian, the whole organization was very special. The professor started the lecture with (at least) half an hour of delay and therefore finished it half an hour earlier. She basically covered the field of Marketing as well as Accounting and was very cooperative. It was not very hard to follow her not just because of the subject but also because she repeated important things very often and spoke very slowly which was ideal for Erasmus-students that couldn t speak the language that well. But: In a class of 90 students there only were 4 Erasmus-students. The minority of the students attending a lecture were (of course) the male. We had a midterm as well as a final exam. For both of them you haven t had to study that much. With 26 Points (in Italy there is the grading system from 0 until 30 points) I was one of the best students in that course: As an Erasmus-student, not speaking the language very properly. So, the grading was very fair but also the subject very easy to understand. c) The third subject I took was the only one of the Communications Faculty. It dealt with the psychological analysis of advertising. In that course which was the most

3 challenging one and took place twice a week per 3 hours I probably learned the most. We had to hand in a report of around ten pages (completely in Italian) instead of writing a final exam. The topic was the analysis of a TV spot that we could choose by ourselves. The lecture was very challenging (regarding the language and the subjects (e.g. Freud, Pawlow and other psychological models) but also appealing because it was very practical. Only three Erasmus-students attended that course but I would definitely recommend that class. I obtained 9 ECTS with it. None of the courses listed above had any prerequisites. The workload of the course absolutely is NOT comparable to USI s. At USI you usually get 3 ECTS and have to hand in a report and/or a presentation and write a final exam. For 9 ECTS at La Sapienza you usually only have to do one of those things. The relationship between the professors and students is very hierarchical. Although you can go to the professors any time you want (especially during breaks or after the courses they are very open for questions) you quickly realize the hierarchical order in the relationship between students and the academic staff. For Erasmus-students it was very easy to obtain a big amount of ECTS with only a few courses, as already mentioned. But: The level of the lectures by far is not that high as at USI. Don t expect too much! With all my respect: Italy is famous for fashion, for high class design, for food and culture and so on. But for a challenging academic life? At least not in Rome! At least you usually find the lectures (in PowerPoint-format) on the university s website. Not very updated, but in the end you find the slides online. Although slides usually are not very commonly used in lectures. 2. PRACTICAL INFORMATION Information before to leave I have chosen to go to Sapienza University because first of all, I chose Italy to improve my Italian language skills. More specific, I chose Sapienza in Rome because I knew how big and traditional this university is, and I thought it would be quite challenging to organize and structure student life. Moreover, of course, I was fascinated by the idea of going to Rome such an antique and amazing city. The information about Sapienza University mostly came from direct contact to the university which was not easy to do and their website. Basically, the main question that I needed to answer myself before leaving was which courses Sapienza offers. Unfortunately, almost none of the courses that were shown online were actually really offered when I was there. Thus, you should not rely too much on the information you have before, and just see what kind of possibilities you have once you are there. As application forms, there is first of all the USI application form for the exchange semester, of course which consisted of a motivational letter and the learning agreement. Next, there was an application form from Sapienza University, which was basically the same. Travel

4 Getting to Rome is easy, more or less. From Lugano, I took the car and drove there by myself. For those who don t have a car, there are two airports in Rome and both are equally convenient. Unfortunately, they are a bit outside of Rome, so one needs to take either the train to the main station, or various shuttle busses. Parking in Rome is not as hard as one could think, because Romans just create parking spaces wherever possible. Of course, the traffic is very hectic and also challenging. Again, it s not as hard as one could think, once you got used to it. Once in Rome, there are of course busses, trams and two metro lines available at a very decent price. During the day, there are different busses than during night time and even on holidays and Sundays, there are different schedules. Arrival The reception at the university was absolutely unacceptable. The Erasmus office with Ms Filomena Nenna was extremely unfriendly, unwelcoming and bad. Arriving there 1 hour (!) before the official closure, we had to listen to a monolog about how lazy Erasmus students are, and that they only show up too late etc. There was no information handed out, nor about any courses, or about any other events or whatsoever. We felt quite lost and treated in a very indifferent way. There was an Erasmus welcoming day on November 8 th, thus more than two months after our arrival and one month after the semester started. You can imagine how useful this day was, besides the fact that this event started more than 1.5 hours later than scheduled, which caused us missing lectures, of course no explanations given. When it comes to organization, Sapienza University is the worst thing ever. I understand it s an extremely big university, but on the other hand, it s divided into so many independent faculties that it s not impossible to organize it in a better way. At a certain point, we were not able to take this organization anymore seriously, to be honest. Due to the strike that was going on at the communication faculty, our semester beginning was delayed for about 3 weeks. So you cannot really talk about the first day. We just started to go to economy faculty lectures, and later also to communication lectures. Nobody took care of us or paid any attention to us, thus it is strange to talk of a first day in that sense. It is advisable to arrive in September, the university starting in October. You can already setup your room, explore the city a bit and inform yourself about the lectures which are certainly going to be different than the learning agreement courses. Else, you can also come at the end of September if you do not have so much time before. It takes a while until everything really starts, thus it is also okay to come a bit later. Housing Rooms are quite easy to find. Unlike in Switzerland, in Rome you look for a room very spontaneously which can also mean only 3 or 2 weeks before. Looking for a room 2 or even 3 months in advance is not advisable, because you will not find anything. There are some websites like easystanza.it or kijiji.it which are quite good, but one should rather call and not write s, because direct contact is preferred. Else there are many groups on

5 facebook offering a platform. There are also various Erasmus associations in Rome which help to find a room. If not, maybe the easiest thing is to come to Rome and stay in a B&B and search directly in Rome usually you are able to find an adequate room within 3 to 7 days. I found my room through a facebook group, I have posted my question whether anyone has to offer a room, and soon I got answers. I lived in Porta Pia which is close to the city center. The location was perfect! Of course, the price of 500 per month for a room in a flat together with one other person is a lot. On the other side, given the great location and the big size of the apartment, it is ok. Also because I had a terrace on the rooftop! Just perfect. Usually, depending on how close one wishes to live to the city center, a price of about 350 to 500 is to be paid for a room. In Rome there are also many offers for double rooms, thus you would have to share your room with another person. Those rooms are between 200 and 350. Costs The main cost is the accommodation. Other than that, prices in Rome are ok I would say. Prices for groceries are much cheaper than in Switzerland, and also prices to eat in restaurants or to have a drink are really good, besides the prices in the most touristic areas of course. The ticket for atac, the transportation, is only 18 /month for Erasmus students. Prices are generally lower than in Switzerland. International relations office The international relations office for us was the Erasmus office for the economy faculty. Ms Filomena Nenna is responsible for incoming students, but she seems to be always overstrained, hating Erasmus students, at least being constantly unfriendly to them. I can unfortunately only tell negative things about the Erasmus office, it was absolutely no help at all. There is an Erasmus association called ESN which has nothing to do with the university itself, but it organizes events, parties, trips and more for Erasmus students. The office is in the same building as the official Erasmus office, and even though I did not like the events that ESN offered (typical Erasmus events: lots of alcohol, cheap, and young people), it is a good opportunity to get to know people, because in the regular non-erasmus lectures, this is very hard. Social activities As I said, usually it s quite hard to get to know Italian students. When you enter a lecture, everyone already knows each other and especially if you already are in two or more, you will not get to know anyone in the lectures. But there are specific Erasmus lectures which make it easier to meet people non-italians of course.

6 As I said there are a bunch of activities for Erasmus students even every week several ones. There are various Erasmus associations, the biggest one being ESN, but also SPQE, and many more. They can be found easily online, for example on facebook, and ESN also has an office at Sapienza University. Language During the regular lectures, of course the language is Italian. Erasmus courses might also be offered in English. There was no proof of language skills needed before coming to Rome. Other When it comes to evaluating the university and its organization and academic level, I would have to laugh about it. Oral exams during not even 3 minutes, and the question asked is ok, just tell me whatever you want did not even surprise me any more at the end. The lectures were a bad joke, sitting in an economic lecture and talking about how to compute the easiest mathematical operation like dividing two numbers etc. professors saying they do not want to confuse students with too much information. Or another professor shortening his lectures to not even half of the time of what they were supposed to be, and not teaching anything, just referring to his book. The experiences at Sapienza University were at best disappointing, and shocking also. Especially when coming from USI. But of course, the city itself is unforgettable and a great experience. Getting to know another way of life, so different from the one in Switzerland, was an enriching experience. Switzerland compared to the easy-going and unconventional Italy two very strong contrasts, countries that are neighbours could not be more different. Thus it depends on what you expect from going to Sapienza in Rome one should certainly not expect anything from the university, but can expect everything from the city. I m at disposal of other students, so that they can contact me for more information: yes, [email protected] no