Academic advising/guidance
In the specific case of the Degree Course in Medicine and Surgery, academic advising/guidance is carried out by reference professors/instructors, through seminars at High School Institutes in Parma and its Province and neighbouring Provinces. The calendar of meetings is agreed upon by the Schools with the University's "Welcome and guidance" Unit.
http://www.unipr.it/orientamento_in_ingresso
The Degree Course is also presented at "OpenDay" events (three consecutive days in April) and "InfoDay" (one day in July), organised each year by the University.
https://ilmondochetiaspetta.unipr.it/infoday-2/
The dissemination of information to prospective students on how to access degree courses is carried out through projects in collaboration with upper secondary schools as part of induction advising/guidance activities, support for structures involved in 'Alternanza Scuola-Lavoro' programmes and information and guidance interviews for students and families.
In connection with high schools, the university has launched a series of specific projects involving school teachers in coordination with UNIPR professors/instructors with a view to supporting the preparation of school students for university enrolment.
These projects specifically are:
-CORDA Project, established in 2001 as an guidance initiative for students in their last year of some high schools who intended to undertake studies at the Faculty of Engineering in Parma, now extended to all the University's scientific courses; - Scientific Degrees Plan (PLS), established in 2004 with the aim of combating the growing disaffection of young people towards scientific disciplines. At UNIPR, PLS is divided into different subject areas:
-Biology and Biotechnology ;
- Chemistry ;
- Geology ;
- Physics ;
- Mathematics.
The activity of welcoming foreign students and refugees deserves particular attention: over the years it has become increasingly important within the objectives that the University has set for itself, also from an administrative point of view, especially with regard to the evaluation of foreign qualifications that students submit upon enrolment and which, in some cases, they send before arriving in Italy for prior evaluation for admission to degree courses. With regard to the delicate and current context of the refugee situation, the university recently joined the National Coordination on the Evaluation of Refugee Qualifications (CNVQR) with which the MIUR, with the support of the CIMEA, has set itself the objective of providing universities with useful tools to proceed with the recognition of the qualifications of refugees with little or no documentation. The University of Parma, within the framework of this project, which is also part of the University Plan for Refugees, was able to receive precise notions on the procedure to follow in cases of poor or absent documentation, establishing important contacts with other universities and with the CIMEA staff, for fruitful cooperation. Based on this protocol, the Unit Careers and Services for Students provides accommodation for refugees with confirmed status, as well as asylum seekers. For everyone, i.e. both those with recognised refugee status and those with a status that is not yet final and with partial or deficient documentation, the qualifications submitted are assessed. In this context, numerous discussions are scheduled, both with students and with the mediators of the associations, as well as with the Presidents of the Degree Councils to which the students approach, and with ERGO for possible benefits.
In addition to all these centrally coordinated activities, there are other actions implemented on the direct initiative of individual departments, degree courses and their delegates. These initiatives take the form of internships activated at individual departments by the guidance delegates of the various degree courses and take place over one or more days; the relevant information is collected in a digital brochure published annually on the website; the same brochure is sent by email, through direct contact with school guidance directors and teachers, to all schools in the interested area (Parma and neighbouring provinces as well as other provinces in which guidance meetings are organised in schools or where student fairs are held).
In addition to internships, it is worth mentioning the more specific initiatives organised directly by professors/instructors (not necessarily delegated for guidance). These actions are thematic and are once again aimed at high school students in order to provide them with further information on study paths leading to more or less 'canonical' professional profiles.
In addition, it was also intended to conceive entry guidance as a function of the choice of a degree, so as to orientate it, favouring vocation and talent, through more intensive contacts with students enrolled in first-level degrees.
Lastly, it seems appropriate, in this context, to mention the Customer Satisfaction project undertaken by the University of Parma, capable of allowing, among other things, the assessment of the effectiveness of advising/guidance actions, an open issue and not entirely resolved in the national panorama, in order to allow a more conscious and targeted choice by students and, in particular, to verify that guidance actions are productive, not so much in terms of attractiveness to the University, but in terms of improving the performance of students who then entol in the University of Parma.