For many Uark engineering students, there is a very interesting opportunity that far too few know exists. In Torino, Italy, surrounded by the Alps, there is an engineering school called Politecnico di Torino and they accept Razorbacks as exchange students. The best part of this program is that their academics are very close to Arkansas’s. This allows you to study abroad without getting set back a semester. With this said, there are many differences in a class abroad.
The first thing
that you will notice about classes in Italy is their length. The shortest
lecture that I have seen is one and a half hours, but it is not uncommon for a
class to have multiple three hour lectures each week. Normally these long
lectures will have a fifteen-minute break in the middle to give a much needed recess
to both the instructor and students.
At first, the classes feel incredibly
long, but after several weeks it begins to feel normal. Due to the amount of lecture time available,
the instructors have a much slower teaching style. One that leaves many
American students feeling as though lecture is less efficient than studying
independently. If you have enough self-discipline to do this, you will end up
with a lot of free time and in turn a lot of opportunities to travel. Most of
the American students in 2017 were able to travel to over ten countries during
the academic semester.
All of the
classes that the American students take are taught in English. From my experience,
half of the professors speak English very well. The other half can be very
difficult to understand only increasing the importance of studying
independently.
Perhaps the
biggest difference in courses taught in the United States and Italy is the
grading policy. In Italy there is only one grade in the class, and that is the
final exam. Finals month in Italy is a very stressful time for students.
However, while the stress is real, you only have to pass one exam per class for
the entire semester. There are no graded homework assignments or midterms. You
only have to pass one test, and even if you were to fail one exam—which does
happen—you are given two chances for every test. Passing the exams and doing
well is very obtainable. It requires keeping up with the material throughout
the semester, and then putting in the time before the exams to thoroughly learn
it. With a little self-discipline, it really isn’t hard.
When everything
is considered, making the decision to study abroad was one of the best I have
made during college. The incredible amount of new experiences and people that I
have met added an incredible amount of value to my education. If you are an
engineering student take a look at Politecnico di Torino, and if you have the
opportunity to study abroad, I highly recommend it.
Brett Glenn
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Find out more about the University of Politecnico Exchange with the College of Engineering at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/pdt
