The academic year in Italian universities opens from October 1. A date which is now more formal than anything else, given that many faculties already from the third week of September, without therefore waiting to start Official on October 1st, they start classes. With the courses, almost 200 new gold courses have started throughout Italy, which enrich – perhaps in some cases complicate – the choice of young people regarding their study path. And hence their professional choice. Among the new features, most focus on the themes of health, sustainable development and digital technology: a strong signal of the importance of these three areas in today's world.
The news
There will be 172 new diplomas for the 2024/2025 academic year. Eight others are still in the embryonic stage of “proposals under evaluation” and their approval would bring the total number of university courses in Italy to more than 5,700. These are decisions taken by the National University Council (Cun) and the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System (Anvur). Among the new developments, 40 are all concentrated in the health sector: Medicine, Dentistry, Health Professions, Veterinary Medicine. Greater availability of routes which reflects the urgency facing the Italian hospital system and the urgent need for new staff. Sustainability ranks second in the ranking of new features, with 11 new courses including green chemistry and sustainable mobility. There are 8 training courses in the digital sector, such as Digital Humanities and Data science which focus on the integration – now strategic – between the human world and technology.
It is quite surprising that the universities of southern Italy and the islands are the main promoters of this educational dynamism. The universities of Palermo, Catania and Cagliari have opened a total of 29 courses. Much less marked desire in historical institutes like La Sapienza in Rome (only 4) and the University of Bologna (2). The world is changing and universities must follow it: from climate change to the digital transition to the importance of healthcare and self-care. The rector of the University of Verona Pier Francesco Nocini explained: “We have expanded our training horizons by taking into account the requests of almost 29 thousand students. And paying great attention to the needs for high-level training profiles necessary in the different areas of work, at the national and territorial level.
University dates
The university calendar runs from September – the month of exams and classes – until July. The courses are actually condensed into a handful of weeks, then leaving room for exam “sessions” generally after the Christmas holidays and during the summer months (June-July and September). In certain faculties, it is then possible to divide the exam program in two, giving rise to so-called partial exams in half of the courses.
- courses to be taken between October-December 2024;
- winter session: exams to be taken between January and February 2025;
- start of the second semester between February/March-May 2025;
- summer session: exams to be taken between June-July 2025 (for some already in the last weeks of May);
- fall session in September 2025, during which you will be able to take exams from previous semesters that you were unable to take during previous sessions.
The timetable is however specific to each diploma. And it depends on how the students themselves decide to face the different exam sessions, that is, the 2 or 3 dates on which the teacher gives the students availability to take the exam.
Read also:
