Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

1. Admission requirements

To be admitted to the Master’s Degree in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, students must have obtained the degree, the Bachelor’s Degree or any other suitable title of study got abroad.

A good knowledge of basic mathematics, computer science, physics and chemistry, of natural and artificial materials used in cultural heritage, of humanities (museology, history of restoration and techniques of art production), of legislation and economics of cultural heritage and activities is required.

Graduates may be admitted to the Master’s Degree provided that they have acquired, or may acquire by means of completion study plans, at least:

- 84 ECTS in basic subjects (MAT, CHIM, FIS, GEO, BIO, INF and ING-IND);

- 6 ECTS in courses of L-ANT, L-ART, M-STO, ICAR, IUS and SECS sectors.

Admission will be subject to the assessment of the students’ curricular requisites and to an interview.

The Master’s Degree in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage is taught both in Italian and in English. The admission to this study programme is subject to the prior assessment of the students’ B-2 English level. In lack of such certification, the English skills will be assessed by the admission committee. Students who do not have such curricular requisites may enrol in single programmes, as provided for by the University Programme Manifesto, and sit the relating exams before enrolling in the Master’s Degree.

 

2. Test for incoming students

The Teaching Committee may have the students who have not acquired the above mentioned ECTS undergo an interview in order to verify whether they have the required knowledge.

 

3. Changes of degree programmes, transfers from other universities, programme shortening, ECTS recognition

3.1 Changes of degree programmes and transfers from other universities

The applications to change a degree programme, submitted by students coming from other Sapienza master’s degree or single-cycle degree programmes and the applications for transfers from other universities, military academies or other higher education military institutions, are subject to the approval of the Study Programme Council that:

• resolves upon the total or partial recognition of the student’s academic records and validates the entirety or part of the exams passed and the ECTS acquired, if any, with the relating marks; in the event of changes from study programmes belonging to the same class pursuant to former Ministerial Decree no. 270, at least 50% of the ECTS acquired in each scientific disciplinary sector shall be recognised (art. 3, paragraph 9 of Ministerial Decree of Master’s Degree classes);

• indicates the academic year which the student is enrolled in;

• establishes the additional learning requirements, if any, to be fulfilled;

• formulates the completion study plan for the achievement of the degree.

If students, according to the recognised academic records, are admitted to a year following those provided for by the current academic system, they may opt to enrol either in the corresponding year of the old academic system or in the most advanced year then existing of the current academic system (art. 33, paragraph 5 of the University Educational regulations).

Applications for transfers to the Master’s Degree in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage shall be submitted within the deadline and according to the modalities specified in the University Programme Manifesto.

3.2 Programme shortening

Students who have already achieved a four-year, five-year or single cycle degree according to the old academic system, or a master’s degree according to the current academic system and intend to get an additional degree, may request from the Study Programme Council to be enrolled in an academic year subsequent to the first one.

Such applications are assessed by the Study Programme Council, that:

• resolves upon the total or partial recognition of the student’s academic records and validates the entirety or part of the exams passed and the ECTS acquired, if any, with the relating marks; in the event of changes from study programmes belonging to the same class pursuant to former Ministerial Decree no. 270, at least 50% of the ECTS acquired in each scientific disciplinary sector will be recognised (art. 3, paragraph 9 of Ministerial Decree of Master’s Degree classes);

• indicates the academic year which the student is enrolled in;

• establishes the additional learning requirements, if any, to be fulfilled;

• formulates the completion study plan for the achievement of the degree.

If students, according to the recognised academic records, are admitted to a year following those provided for by the current academic system, they may opt to enrol either in the corresponding year of the old academic system or in the most advanced year then existing of the current academic system (art. 33, paragraph 5 of the University Educational regulations).

Students cannot enrol in a Master’s Degree Programme falling within the same class of the master’s degree they have already achieved.

Applications shall be submitted within the deadline and according to the modalities specified in the University Programme Manifesto.

3.3 Criteria for ECTS recognition

All the already acquired ECTS may be recognised if they concern courses, substantiated by the course programmes, whose contents are consistent with any of the curricula provided for by the Master’s Degree Programme.

The Study Programme Council may resolve upon the equivalence among scientific disciplinary sectors to recognise ECTS according to the contents of courses and in compliance with the Educational regulations of the Master’s Degree Programme.

The already acquired ECTS relating to courses whose contents, though with a different name, are clearly equivalent to any courses of the Master’s Degree Programme, may be recognised as relating to the courses typical of the master’s degree programme which a student wishes to enrol in. In this case, the Study Programme Council resolves upon the recognition according to the following modalities:

• if the number of ECTS corresponding to the course for which the recognition is requested coincides with that of the recognised course, they are directly awarded;

• if the number of ECTS corresponding to the course for which the recognition is requested is different from that of the recognised course, the Study Programme Council will assign ECTS according to the student’s academic records and after some additional interviews, if required.

The Study Programme Council may recognise as ECTS the knowledge and professional skills certified pursuant to the regulations in force on the matter, as well as other kinds of knowledge and skills accrued in academic-level training whose planning and implementation the University has contributed to. Such ECTS are included in the 12 ECTS relating to the students’ elective courses. At all events, 12 are the maximum recognisable ECTS in such fields.

The activities already recognised as ECTS-awarding in the degree programme cannot be recognised also for the Master’s Degree Programme.

 

4. Completion study plans and individual study plans

Students have to obtain the official approval of their study plan by the Study Programme Council before having recorded the exams relating to courses that are not mandatory for all students, under penalty of cancellation of the examination records. The deadline to submit a completion study plan is available on the Study Programme website.

Students may obtain such approval by opting between two alternatives:

1) either choosing one of the completion study plans established every year by the Study Programme Council; or

2) submitting an individual study plan that shall be assessed by the Study Programme Council for approval.

4.1 Study plans

The webpage relating to a study plan includes the list of all the provided courses and a special box where students may indicate the courses relating to their elective 12 ECTS. The elective ECTS may be chosen among all those included in the Sapienza Course Catalogue.

Students shall submit online their study plan through their Infostud page and within the established deadline (such procedure is generally activated at the end of the first year, from mid-July to mid-September and from mid-November to mid-January).

The study plan will be forwarded online to the Study Programme coordinator, who sets up the assessment and approval procedure of the Study Programme Council. The result of such procedure shall be thus communicated online to students and, in case of approval, the study plan will become their study plan. Otherwise, students will be invited online to amend it.

4.2 Individual study plans

If students do not intend to choose any of the curricular study plans, they have to submit an individual study plan by using the same online procedure indicated at point NG4.1 above.

The individual study plan may be submitted only once in an academic year, starting from the first year.

4.3 Change of curricular study plans and of individual study plans

Students who have already chosen a curricular study plan may choose a new one, either curricular or individual, in a following academic year by using the same online procedure indicated at point NG4.2 above.

Likewise, students who have already had their individual study plan approved may, in a following academic year, choose either a curricular study plan or a different individual study plan. At all events, the exams already recorded cannot be replaced.

5. Educational activities

Educational activities are conventional and divided in semesters.

Teaching activities include lectures, classroom exercises and lab activities, all organised according to a timetable that enables students to have sufficient time to devote to individual study. The nominal duration of a Master’s Degree Programme is 4 semesters, equal to two years.

5.1 University ECTS

The university ECTS measure the student’s workload needed to achieve a learning outcome. ECTS are acquired by students after passing exams or obtaining qualifications, if provided.

The European Credit Transfer System adopted in the Italian and European universities provides that one ECTS is equivalent to 25 hours of work, divided between institutional collective educational activities (i.e., lectures, exercises and lab activities) and individual study.

In the Master’s Degree Programme of Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, in compliance with art. 23 of the University Educational regulations, one ECTS equals 8 hours of lecture, 12 hours of laboratory or of exercises supported by a teacher, or 20 hours of professional training (for small groups supported by a teacher) or of directed study (students’ individual classroom exercises/lab activity, supported by a teacher).

The syllabus of each course, that is available on the Degree Programme website, indicates the apportionment of ECTS and hours of lecture according to the different activities, together with the requirements, learning outcomes and general programmes. The overall workload to achieve the degree is 120 ECTS.

In the Master’s Degree Programme of Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, the individual study or other individual educational activities shall account for at least 50% of the student’s overall workload.

5.2 Academic calendar

Lectures are typically held on weekdays. In the first year, when basic courses are taught, the days of attendance are fewer, so as to encourage individual study.

The academic calendar is the following:

first semester : from October to January;

second semester: from March to May.

Sessions of exams are the following:

- February: summer exam session for courses taught in the first semester of the first year and winter exam session for courses of the previous year;

- June-July: summer exam session;

- September: fall exam session.

The exams are recorded by means of an electronic recording system, thus the examination dates have to be booked in advance. Any further modalities to register for exam sessions will be communicated by the teachers of each specific course.

Start and end dates of lectures:

October 1 – January 31

March 1 – May 31

Start and end dates of exam sessions:

June 1 – September 30

February 1 – February 28

5.3 Exams

The assessment of the students’ progress is expressed per each course by assigning them a mark, given in thirtieths, ranging from 18 (minimum) to 30 (maximum) or a qualification.

The following elements contribute to the final assessment:

• a written exam, generally divided in several written tests, that students have to undergo both during the programme and upon its completion;

• an oral exam;

• the students’ individual work.

 

6. Attendance, mandatory preliminary exams, admission to following years

No mandatory preliminary exams are provided for the courses included in the study plan, nor to enrol in the second year. The thesis must be requested when the number of exams to be sat is lower than five.

 

7. Part-time learning

Terms and modalities to apply for part-time learning as well as the relating rules are established in art. 13 of the University Programme Manifesto and are available on Sapienza website.

The Master’s Degree Programme in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage provides for part-time learning of four years and 30 ECTS per year.

 

8. Irregular students and validity of the acquired ECTS

In compliance with art. 21 of the University Programme Manifesto, students are deemed as being irregular when, though having attended all the educational activities provided for by these Educational regulations, they have not passed all the exams and have not acquired the number of ECTS required for the achievement of the degree within three years.

In compliance with art. 25 of the University Programme Manifesto:

• full-time students who are irregular will have to pass the tests still lacking to complete their university career within six years after enrolment;

• part-time students who are irregular will have to pass the tests still lacking to complete their university career within the term of eight years after their enrolment if they have agreed upon a part-time learning of four years.

 

9. Tutorship

Students of the Master’s Degree Programme in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage may benefit from the tutorship provided by the teachers indicated by the Study Programme Council. The name of any further teachers available as tutors and the tutorship modalities will be published each academic year at the Educational Affairs Office and on the Master’s Degree Programme website.

 

10. Honours Programmes

The Master’s Degree Programme in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage institutes an Honours Programme for the most deserving students.

Terms and modalities to apply for an Honours Programme and further information about the call are available on the Degree Programme website, from which the facsimile of the application form may also be downloaded.

 

11. Degree exam

To be admitted to the degree exam, students must have acquired all the ECTS provided for by the academic system for activities other than the degree exam and must have abode by the administrative formalities provided for by the University Educational regulations.

The degree exam consists in the discussion of a piece of writing, either in Italian or in English, containing the results of an original applied, experimental or research study carried out on an issue inherent in the targets of the Master’s Degree Programme. The thesis work may also be performed in non-university structures both in Italy and abroad.

The thesis is drawn up under the guidance of a supervisor, usually in the second year of the study programme, and the required commitment accounts for at least half of such year.

The final mark is awarded by taking into account the weighted average of the examination marks, according to the ECTS acquired, and the final dissertation. The examination committee gives the final mark in one hundred tenths and may unanimously award the candidate the highest marks magna cum laude.

12. Application of art. 6 of the Student Regulations (Royal Decree of June 4, 1938, no. 1269)

Students enrolled in the Master’s Degree Programme in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage may enrol, each academic year, in two additional courses of a different faculty and sit the relating exams in order to enrich their study plan, pursuant to art. 6 of Royal Decree of June 4, 1938, no. 1269. Students have to send in the application to the Study Programme Council and to submit the same to the Educational Affairs Office within January of each year.

Considering the scientific and cultural meaning of such rule, the Study Programme Council resolved that such application may be filed only by students who have acquired at least 21 ECTS in the Master’s Degree Programme in Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage.