Politecnico di Milano

Positive Achievements and Unwanted Consequences of the Bologna Process Implementation at the Politecnico di Milano

Meeting with the Deans of the Engineering Faculties

prof. Franco Bernelli, Vice Dean School of Industrial Engineering

TYPICAL STRUCTURE OF THE 3+2 (+3) STUDY COURSE

1st year

2nd year

Direct access to Master Courses with no missing credits

3rd year (professional curriculum)Specialisation: a , b, c, … Bachelor (laurea)

Master (laurea magistrale)

1st and 2nd yearSpecialisation : A, B, C, …

Bachelor (laurea)

3rd year(master oriented)

Ph.D.

Access to Master Courses with extra credits required

• Apparently engineering studies are more appealing (compared to separate 3 and 5 year curricula)

POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

freshmen enrolled

0500

100015002000250030003500400045005000

undergraduate courses(3 or 5 years curricula)

graduate courses

1998

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

• Faster student flow (due to course contents reduction and restructuring)

POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

Students having gained a minimum number of ECTS credits

0,00%

10,00%

20,00%

30,00%

40,00%

50,00%

60,00%

45 in 1 year 105 in 2 years 150 in 3 years

1997

2000

2001

2002

2003

• Slight reduction in dropouts (still concentrated in the first year)

POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

Dropouts (%) per course year

0,00

5,00

10,00

15,00

20,00

25,00

1 2 3

1997

2000

2001

2002

• Smaller classes (theoretical limit is 150 students) and increased laboratory work

POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

• Wider educational offer, increase in professional profiles

• Internship compulsory for specific undergraduate curricula

• Mixed curricula (for the student), with changes between first and second level degrees

• Possibility to select graduate students (quality)

• Possibility to anticipate selection (end of second year, after 120 credits)

POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

SCHOOL N VFreshmen 2001-02 %_dropouts #_NV %_NV

Ing I - Civ 100 24 428 12,80% 120 28,00%

Ing II - Sis 110 25 996 16,90% 235 23,60%

Ing III - Pro 90 24 218 16,10% 71 32,60%

Ing IV - Ind 110 25 1039 24,40% 163 15,70%

Ing V - Inf 105 26 1512 23,30% 178 11,80%

Ing VI - Eda 100 24 147 20,40% 34 23,10%

• Increase in the number of courses

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

• Reduced student performance

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

Average examination mark

22,5

23

23,5

24

24,5

25

25,5

26

26,5

27

First year(>45 ECTS)

Second year (>105 ECTS)

Third year (>150 ECTS)

1997

2000

2001

2002

2003

• Professional Societies in some cases are sceptical

• Job market not responsive yet

• Negative perception in the society, due to stiff structure of the reformed system (same for law, medicine, engineering, …). Italian culture remains humanistic

• Hard impact on University structures, not a zero-cost change (investments in teaching staff and laboratories)

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

• Resistance (doubts) of many professors

• Nominal and actual period of study should be as close as possible

• Two parallel systems (3-years bachelor and 5-years master) are not sustainable

• Two parallel systems would inevitably drive student’s preferences to the full 5-year course (if no selection is performed on entry requirements)

• Quality must be guaranteed for all bachelor profiles

• The number of low-credit courses (less than 5 ECTS) should be as low as possible

• Communications to industries must be improved, for placement of bachelor students

• It is now easier to attract foreign students (for master courses), and use English as teaching language

GENERAL CONSENSUS ON THE FOLLOWING

DISCUSSION