Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

Consultation on the internship planning for the academic year 2016/2017 of the Faculty degree programmes took place in the following way:

- N.1 meeting with representative organizations of manufacturers, service providers and professionals on 10.03.2016 organized by the Deans of all the Teaching Committees. The Dean, the Vice-Dean, the  Teaching Director and the Deans of Educational Area Committees were present at the meeting, as well as the following representative organizations: 5 Emme informatica (Manager and Head of products area Head), BIC Lazio S.p.A. (Head of Operation Staff), Cineca - SCIA (Information and knowledge management services), Exaltech - Impresa Latina (Co-founder and Vice-President), Ey (Human Resources Recruiter), GSE - Gestore servizi energetici (Management Engineering), IBM (Business Development Executive), INFO EDGE, Istituto Italiano degli Attuari (Secretary General), Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (Coordinator of the Statistical and Actuarial Division), KYDEA - impresa di Latina (CTO & Co-founder), Lait Regione Lazio (Sole Administrator), NS12 (Head of Marketing & Comunicazione), NttData (head HR), Ordine Nazionale degli Attuari (President), SAS (SAS Academic Program manager), Telecom Italia/TIM (Strategy & Innovation - Market & Service Scenario and Human Resources Senior Consultant).

- Survey by Cesop Communication on the knowledge and perception that Italian companies have on the education/training provided by the degree programmes of the Faculty of Information Engineering, Informatics and Statistics. The research aimed at carrying out a first survey on two aspects of the degree programmes: their popularity and perceived quality.
The survey was carried out through an on-line CAWI ipostat-interview system questionnaire (standard questions and batteries on a 1-10 scale).
The questionnaire areas dealt with:
- job market
- analysis of the Faculty course catalogue
- skills (hard skills and soft skills)
The questionnaire was sent to Human Resources officers of Corporates working in Italy (HR officers).
The corporates contacted were 3800, but only 100 questionnaires were considered valid.
Cases were not weighed taking into account the values of the related statistical reference because only 73% filled in basic details (geographical area and company size).
The main finding concerned the lack of knowledge about the course catalogue. This element strongly affected the whole survey.
Among the 73 respondents who indicated the general details, 16 officers come from small companies, 15 from middle-sized companies and 42 from large companies. 38 units responded from the North, 31 from Central Italy and only 4 from the South and Islands. The majority of respondents (25 on 73 who declared basic details) works in an IT company (Information Technology).
The companies included in the sample work in the following areas: Information Technology (34.7%), Industrial - manufacturing - Transports (19.4%), Corporate Consultancy and revision (15.3%), Media and communication (9.7%), Chemical - Pharmaceutical - Biomedical (6.9%), Large-scale distribution (5.6%), Public Institutions (5.6%), Financial - Insurance (2.8%).

The conclusions drawn from the meeting are the following:

- The organizations present on 10.03.2016 were provided with a leaflet about the Faculty indicating the aims of each course, the course of study and the professional opportunities for each degree and Master’s degree programme, together with the related website. Such document was sent on 17.02.2016. During the meeting the following topics were discussed, concerning the evaluation of learning goals and professional outcomes offered by the degree programmes of the Faculty:
• Adequacy of the learning outcomes and degree courses’ names
• Adequacy of professional profiles in relation to job market needs
• Expected professional opportunities
• Suggestions on the aims and contents of the degree courses aims and contents
• Opinions on Bachelor’s degree programmes and the average duration of degree programmes
• Collaborations in Placements/Internships/Thesis/Research

All organizations found the subjects dealt with in the degree courses of the Faculty and the expected professional opportunities interesting and useful; nonetheless, they suggested that the transversality among the degree courses should be increased (in Inter-Faculty and Inter-departmental courses). Although organizations emphasized the fact that the course catalogue includes current subjects such as information technology and data science, big data, internet of things (IoT) and internet of everything (IoE), smart cities, robotics, domotics, cyber security, cognitive computing, social networking, cloud analytics, mobile networking, privacy, open source, open data, open agent, nonetheless, they hope for further expertise and developments, due to the needs brought about by the introduction of digital citizenship in public administration. Moreover, the importance of increasing the education concerning the legal framework has been highlighted, especially in the statistical and actuarial area degree programmes.

As far as soft skills are concerned, large and middle-sized/small enterprises hold different views: the former believe that it is necessary to increase sot skills also through collaboration with the companies who agree to give workshops which can be included in the course catalogue as credits. Middle-sized and small enterprises, instead, think that it is more important to provide a solid basic education/training especially during Bachelor’s degree courses.
As far as employment is concerned, all organizations highlight the importance for students to complete their degree programme and advocate for their collaboration with the job market when they are still attending the degree course. This greater contact should be obtained through more frequent meetings with corporate staff during the degree courses, activation of placements, research projects and collaboration during work on the final thesis. In order to carry out these activities, organizations expressed their full intention to collaborate.  

- Cesop Communication Survey
The results of the three-area questionnaire are the following:
- 88% of the sample will employ personnel in 2016, choosing graduates from the Faculty of Information Engineering, Informatics and Statistics. In particular, Computer Science Engineer is the most successful professional profile (19.8% on 88).
- the course catalogue is little known, therefore communication between the Faculty and the companies should be improved (collaborations and meetings between Faculty and companies). An interesting benchmark is the Politecnico of Milan, which is considered a quality University with a good communication activity.
- with regard to the contents of the course catalogue, companies reckon soft skills slightly more important than hard skills (average 5.58 on 10 scale). Among the soft skills indicated, «collaborating with other people constructively» and «adapting to organizations’ needs» are those which can and must be improved by the Faculty.

The Teaching Committee agrees to consider the following indications:

- keep on developing subjects such as information technology and data science, big data, internet of things(IoT) and internet of everything (IoE), smart cities, robotics, domotics, cyber security, cognitive computing, social networking, cloud analytics, mobile networking, privacy, open source, open data, open agent in degree and master’s degree courses;
- increase transversality and cross-contamination among the several degree courses, above all during Master’s degree programmes;
- increase soft skills acquisition through credit-bearing and not credit-bearing workshops;
- strengthen basic education/training, especially in Bachelor’s degree programmes;
- increase the knowledge about the course catalogue and strengthen the connection with the job market by planning more contacts with companies during lectures, placements, meetings with corporates, final theses done in corporate sites, research projects involving university students, especially Master’s degree students.

It was found that the internship planning of the Faculty courses is adequately structured. Moreover, it is thought that the functions and skills characterising the professional profiles educated/trained by the several degree courses of the Faculty are adequately described, and consequently help define the expected learning outcomes; that both general and specific expected learning outcomes indicated in the course planning are consistent with professional needs, in such a way that the graduates can meet the widest needs of society and the job market (training needs).

Consultations for the Degree programme in Data Science went on within the Industrial Liaison Program which held a meeting in the Aula Magna in the “Antonio Ruberti” Department of Computer, Automatic and Management Engineering on 17 February 2018 from 9.45 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. On such occasion, several companies expressed their appreciation for the course of study in Data Science and suggested topics for the carrying out of internships, end-of-course projects and final theses. Companies also met graduands, in order to identify the best job opportunities.

In 2017 Cesop Communication conducted a focus group to investigate the aspects of popularity and quality of the Faculty degree courses. 6 corporate managers took part in it during a two-hour session. The areas of investigation are:
• Knowledge of course catalogue
• University–Companies communication and relationships
• Corporate activities related to professional needs and selections
The companies involved were Capgemini, Altran, Fater, TIM, Deloitte and Infocert. In 2017 the companies employed 2000 people whose profile corresponds to the one educated/trained by the Faculty degree courses: 73,5% of them were graduates and the most used type of contract was permanent (67,4%).
The direct relationship with companies was considered the best way to increase knowledge of the course catalogue. In particular, collaborations and meetings between the university and companies were considered the most useful way to present the degree courses.

The degree course in Data Science made the contacts with social parties permanent through the activation of the Industrial Liaison Program (ILP). This programme allows for constant contacts with industrial and service partners so as to identify common fields of interest aimed at the activation of placement projects, master’s degree theses, internship, and student guidance for the job market. A meeting of students, industries and lecturers is planned every year in the month of February-March.
On 27 March 2018, several companies took part in an event, and participants were asked to explain the importance of Data Scientists in their working field. What was said shows that this professional figure is sough-after, and it is a piece of information corroborated by the great number of end-of-course projects, placements and internships that were offered to students. The strong connection with the job market was confirmed by the wide participation of companies in the Symposium organised during the first graduations in Data Science, on 5 October 2017.