Discussion with professors of the University of Bologna and Imperial College: 6 Nov 2015, 14:45

On Friday 6 November 6, 2015, at 14:45 in the Lecture Hall, the School of Civil Engineering organizes

Discussion of the students and faculty members of the School of Civil Engineering with professors Alberto Montanari of the University of Bologna and Christian Onof of Imperial College

All members of the School, students, professors, scientific and administrative personnel, can participate if they wish. The discussion will be conducted in English. For better organization of the discussion, in cooperation with the Board of students and the Student Affairs Committee, a preliminary list of questions has been prepared, as shown below. Participants can make additional questions to guests, whether during their speeches or at the end.

Tentative list of questions

A. AN OVERVIEW OF YOUR UNIVERSITY

1. What are the general conditions of studies in your university (number of students in the School and per class, number of professors, number of administration personnel, different curricula at undergraduate and postgraduate level, procedures for student admission)?

B. ADMINISTRATION AT YOUR UNIVERSITY

1. What is the administration model in your university? Do students participate in administration/elections and how?
2. Do students pay tuition fees and are there facilities offered to students for free?
3. What are the main principles for electing new faculty members and promoting existing ones?
4. Do you have a choice regarding the administrative employees working at your department, or are they allocated to your School centrally by the university? If you do have a choice, on the basis of which qualifications do you hire/select administrative employees? Do you have an administrative manager in your department? With what responsibilities?
5. Who decides on the salary of the faculty members and administrative employees? Is it related to any type of evaluation?

C. EDUCATION AT YOUR UNIVERSITY

1. Does your university follow the Bologna Process and what is your opinion about it?
2. Could you describe 2-3 important changes during the last 5-10 years in your civil engineering curriculum and the rationale behind them?
3. Could you describe any important recent changes in the way courses are delivered (teaching and learning methods used)?

D. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO OUR STUDENTS

1. What is your opinion (if you have one) about our School and its graduates?
2. Are there opportunities for our students to visit your university (e.g. Summer Schools, student exchanges)?
3. Are there opportunities for our graduates to continue their studies in your university at postgraduate level or to participate in your research projects?
4. Which items do you think are important in the CV of a graduating civil engineer applying for postgraduate studies in your department? Or is it mostly numbers (e.g. average grade and GRE scores) that count in a decision?
5. Which top three skills do you think graduating civil engineers (without prior working experience) should have that would make them attractive to employers?
6. Does your university have links with the labour market and how beneficial are they for new graduates?