Learning objectives

Introduction to learning areas in relation to professional destinations The Second-cycle degree course in Chemistry prepares professional figures capable of working in laboratories, facilities, companies or public and private bodies, also at managerial level, in the following areas: (i) innovation in the synthesis of old and new products, responding to the criteria of efficiency and environmental sustainability imposed by social awareness and recent strict European regulations; (ii) use of the most modern technologies for the structural determination of new molecules; (iii) identification and use of the most suitable technologies for quality analysis and process control, in the clinical, toxicological, forensic and environmental fields; (iv) familiarity with the use of computational techniques, aimed at solving structural and mechanistic problems and with the statistical approach for data treatment and process optimisation.

Particular attention is paid to the acquisition of "soft skills" with seminar activities on (1) the protection of intellectual property; (2) teamwork; (3) technical/scientific communication, also in English and also using multimedia means. In particular, specific language skills related to disciplinary lexicons will be obtained by attending at least one course unit in a vehicular language.

The course has a strong focus on internationalisation, thanks to:
- agreements for the acquisition of joint degrees with foreign universities - participation in the numerous international Erasmus and university student exchange programmes - programmes for Visiting Professors to teach courses of their choice - customised study programmes with English-language teaching.
This enables students to gain an international outlook by coming into direct contact with different fields of study and work and being in a favourable position to access the global world of work. This international and not only European outlook will be acquired primarily by the students who participate directly in the exchange projects, but, to some extent at least, by all the students of the cohort who will be in direct contact with the foreign students and lecturers hosted by the school.

Structure of the curriculum. The Second-cycle Degree course in Chemistry is divided into 12  course units, 7 of which are common courses, and the remainder are divided into two curricula that provide specialisation and professionalism in the fields of Biomolecular Chemistry and Materials Chemistry. The common pathway provides knowledge of the most modern instrumental analytical techniques and the ability to critically evaluate their quality parameters, the ability to design and carry out efficient and sustainable synthesis of inorganic, organic and organometallic molecules for the most diverse types of applications, and the theoretical and experimental concepts for dealing with the correlations between properties and structure in molecular and supramolecular systems.

Variations in the study pathways depending on the orientation available to the student Biomolecular pathway: the theoretical/mechanical basis offered to the students will enable them to understand the mechanisms of action of biologically active molecules, including natural organic substances, those of secondary metabolism, drugs and all substances of application in the agrochemical, food and health sectors, and the creation of molecules capable of interacting with cells and biological macromolecules.

Innovative materials and nanotechnology pathway: the theoretical/mechanical basis offered to students is the design, synthesis and characterisation of new molecules with the ability to organise themselves to form materials with interesting and distinctive properties, and the development of methods and new theoretical/computational models for calculating the properties of molecules in isolation, in solution, in aggregates and in the solid state.