Management Engineering

Sapienza’s Quality Assurance (QA) System is extensively described on the webpages of the Quality Team, available at: https://www.uniroma1.it/en/pagina/team-qualita.

These webpages describe the ten-year development of Sapienza’s QA framework, the organisational model adopted, the QA actors (Quality Team, Monitoring Committees, Joint Teaching-Student Committees, Study Programme Quality Committees), the active working groups, the main activities carried out, and the documentation prepared for the management of QA processes and activities in Teaching, Research, and the Third Mission.

The webpages also serve as a platform for communication and for the dissemination of reference data used for Review activities, the drafting of reports by Joint Teaching-Student Committees and Faculty Monitoring Committees, and for compiling SUA-Teaching and SUA-Research forms.
Each Degree Programme and Department may adapt the Sapienza QA model, as defined on the Quality Team webpages, to their specific organisational needs, while respecting the models and procedures set by ANVUR and the Quality Team.
The Degree Programme and Department webpages, together with SUA-Teaching and SUA-Research forms, represent the communication tools through which QA implementation at Programme/Department level is described.

The Degree Programme is managed by the Management Engineering Academic Area Council (hereafter, CAD), under the direct supervision of the Chairperson. Management is based on the activities of several working groups made up of academic staff appointed by the CAD, possibly supported by technical-administrative staff and one or more student representatives. The main working groups are as follows:

• Quality Assurance Management Committee (CGAQ): responsible for overseeing QA procedures for the degree programmes under the CAD and for promoting a culture of quality. In particular, the CGAQ proposes corrective actions aimed at achieving the educational objectives and expected performance outcomes and verifies their implementation; monitors student career progression; collects and analyses feedback on teaching, satisfaction at the end of the programme and graduate employment opportunities; prepares the Annual Monitoring Report and the Periodic Review Report. The CGAQ works together with all the other committees listed below, contributing to the continuous improvement of programme quality;
• Educational Offer and Teaching Initiatives Committee: responsible for developing proposals for organising the educational offer aimed at improving teaching effectiveness, as well as implementing supporting teaching initiatives (such as seminars) of interest to the CAD, including those aimed at the internationalisation of the curriculum. In particular, the Committee manages the ‘Honours Programme’ designed to enhance the education of outstanding students through the involvement of international academics and professionals from public and private organisations;
• Academic Programmes Committee: responsible for managing students’ academic programmes. In particular, it reviews and approves study plans, manages transfer and transition requests from other programmes and universities, oversees incoming students orientation, and works in synergy with the Admissions Requirements Committee;
• Admissions Requirements Committee: verifies compliance with admission requirements for the degree programmes managed by the CAD and oversees the related procedures. In particular, it assesses curricular requirements and organises entry tests aimed at verifying the adequacy of applicants’ prior knowledge for entry to the Master’s Degree Programme;
• International Mobility Committee: responsible for defining and approving study activities to be carried out abroad (i.e., Learning Agreements) and for managing students’ international mobility, with particular reference to Erasmus agreements;
• Relations with Companies Committee: manages relations with the business sector and disseminates information on opportunities for engagement with companies, as well as job offers for students and graduates, and the design of traineeships. The Committee actively collaborates in organising the ‘inFORMIAMOCI’ event, aimed at fostering connections between students and graduates of the Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering (DIAG) ‘Antonio Ruberti’ and major Italian and international companies;
• Communication Management Committee: responsible for the drafting and updating of content published on the website and social media channels of the CAD degree programmes.

The CAD, coordinated by the CGAQ: conducts periodic meetings to monitor the implementation of corrective actions identified in the most recent Review Report; evaluates the results of these actions, highlighting strengths, potential critical issues and necessary changes; verifies the adequacy and effectiveness of programme management; and, where necessary, proposes further corrective measures to be included in the subsequent Review Report. The meeting schedule is defined following the completion of relevant academic activities.
 

Tutors and student representatives on the Degree Programme Board

Contacts, location and Advisory Board

Tutors and student representatives on the Degree Programme Board

The main consultations with stakeholders on the academic programme are summarised below.

In 2016, the Faculty conducted consultations on the academic programmes of all its degree programmes by organising a meeting with representatives of the production of goods and services and of the professional world. The organisations involved were: BIC Lazio S.p.A. (Head of Operational Staff), 5 Emme Informatica (Manager and Head of Product Area), Cineca - SCIA (Information and Knowledge Management Services), Exaltech - Impresa Latina (Co-founder and Vice President), EY (Human Resources Recruiter), GSE - Gestore Servizi Energetici (Management Engineer), IBM (Business Development Executive), INFO EDGE, Istituto Italiano degli Attuari (Secretary General), Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (Coordinator of the Statistical-Actuarial Section), KYDEA - Impresa di Latina (CTO & Co-founder), LAit Regione Lazio (Sole Shareholder), NS12 (Head of Marketing & Communication), NTT Data (HR Manager), Ordine Nazionale degli Attuari (Chairperson), SAS (SAS Academic Program Manager), Telecom Italia/TIM (Strategy & Innovation - Market & Service Scenario and Senior Human Resources Consultant). In addition, Cesop Communication carried out a survey aimed at understanding what the organisations know about the degree programmes provided by the Faculty and what they think of them in terms of quality. All organisations considered the topics covered in the Faculty’s programmes and the expected employment opportunities to be valid and relevant, while recommending an increase in interdisciplinarity across degree programmes (already partly present in inter-faculty and inter-departmental programmes). They also emphasised how important it is – in terms of labour market placement – that students complete their degrees within the expected timeframe and begin engaging with the world of work during their studies. According to the survey, the latter could be achieved by increasing the presence of company testimonials within courses, the activation of research projects, internships, and collaborations in thesis preparation. The organisations interviewed expressed their full willingness to collaborate to implement these aspects.
However, the survey highlighted that awareness of the Faculty’s educational offer is very low, and therefore communication between the Faculty and companies should be strengthened through collaborations and meetings between the Faculty and organisations.

In 2017, Cesop Communication conducted a focus group to investigate awareness and perceived quality of the Faculty’s degree programmes. The companies involved were: Capgemini, Altran, Fater, TIM, Deloitte and Infocert. Awareness of the educational offer of the programmes was found to be very low. According to the participants in the focus group, communication between the university and companies should be improved. Direct interaction with companies was considered the most effective means of increasing awareness of the educational offer. In particular, collaborations and meetings between universities and companies were considered the most useful tools for presenting programmes. In the education of young people, companies do not recognise Sapienza programmes as being able to adequately develop students’ soft skills. Companies state that the soft skill on which universities can have the greatest impact is the ‘Ability to adapt to organisational needs’. The ‘Ability to collaborate constructively with others’ should also be a soft skill developed within university programmes.

In 2024, Sapienza University of Rome’s Management Engineering Academic Area Council (hereafter, CAD) established a permanent consultation body with stakeholders (Advisory Committee), which performs the following tasks:

• monitoring the updating of the academic programme and employment opportunities in light of labour market developments;
• promoting the development of collaborations concerning internships and seminars on relevant topics at the professional level;
• evaluating the effectiveness of employment opportunities.

Interaction with stakeholders also includes the organisation of events, seminars and workshops on current topics, in order to enhance the effectiveness of educational and developmental activities relating to students’ knowledge, skills and overall cultural profile.
The Advisory Committee is made up of academic staff from the CAD degree programmes (including members of the Teaching Evaluation Observatory), representatives of the professional and industrial sectors, representatives of doctoral programmes relevant to the CAD, and representatives of some first-cycle degree programmes whose students may be interested in the overall educational offer of the CAD.
Details on the Advisory Committee are available on the institutional webpage of the Sapienza University of Rome course catalogue dedicated to the programme (https://corsidilaurea.uniroma1.it/).

Furthermore, in 2024 the degree programme, in collaboration with the other Engineering degree programmes of the Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering ‘Antonio Ruberti’ (DIAG) of Sapienza University of Rome, started a shared process of periodic consultation with stakeholders. This process was aimed at verifying the adequacy of the educational offer with respect to current labour market needs and identifying any desirable corrective actions.

The consultations were carried out through interviews and a specific survey covering the following topics relevant to the evaluation of educational needs and professional opportunities offered by the DIAG Engineering degree programmes:
- quality perceived of graduates from DIAG Engineering degree programmes;
- opinions on DIAG degree programmes;
- relevance of the professional profiles that the programmes aim to train;
- adequacy of the educational objectives of the degree programmes;
- adequacy of professional profiles with respect to labour market needs;
- expected employment opportunities;
- relevance of core and related courses within the degree programmes;
- suggestions on the objectives and contents of the degree programmes;
- availability for collaboration in internships/traineeships/thesis/research projects.

The survey was completed by professionals belonging to technical and managerial areas of the following organisations:
EPASA-ITACO Cittadini e Imprese, Isfort, Cesop Communication srl, The Business Game Srl, OBDA Systems, Terna Rete Italia Spa, GSE, DAB Sistemi Integrati Srl, ISED S.p.A., ISAB Srl, TIM, Technip Energies, TELESPAZIO SPA, On-Air Consulting & Solutions, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, NETGROUP SPA, Agic Group, GFX.
Structured interviews (based on the same topics included in the survey) were also conducted with: Salary Manager at Intellera Consulting Part of Accenture, Director of Deal Strategy & Execution at Strategy& (PwC network).
The results of the consultations showed a high level of satisfaction among companies. All of them stated that they were fully satisfied or more satisfied than dissatisfied with the professional profiles in Engineering trained by DIAG, with particular reference to the quality of graduates and the adequacy of professional profiles with respect to current labour market needs.
Companies emphasised the importance for future engineers to develop a solid foundation in core scientific subjects (mathematical sciences, etc.), complemented by practical skills such as programming, teamwork, the ability to present project proposals, and public speaking skills. The majority of companies also expressed interest in actively participating in teaching activities through seminars, practical sessions, theses, and projects jointly carried out by universities and companies, in order to directly contribute to the training of engineers capable of addressing the challenges of the labour market.

In addition, valuable suggestions were provided to improve and expand the educational offer of the CAD degree programmes in Management Engineering.

For further details, please refer to the minutes of the stakeholder consultations available at the following link:

https://www.diag.uniroma1.it/consultazioni/25636

The Management Engineering Academic Area Council (CAD) has consistently undertaken several initiatives to take into due account the indications emerging from stakeholder consultations.

In particular, it has actively participated in the organisation of the inFORMIAMOCI event every year, with the aim to foster contact between students and graduates of the DIAG Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes and major Italian and international companies. The event consists of a series of workshops in which companies of national and international relevance carry out effective employer branding and campus recruiting activities, presenting to students and graduates in the fields of computer, control and management engineering their organisation and available job positions.
Furthermore, every year, the CAD has provided the possibility of hosting company testimonials of particular interest to complement and support specific courses and/or within extracurricular activities which, in the Master’s degree programme, define the ‘Honours Programme’, aimed at enhancing the education of the most outstanding students.
In a limited number of selected cases, the CAD has also entrusted the teaching/co-teaching of specific courses to highly qualified experts (including senior executives of national and multinational companies).
Finally, some courses have been effectively integrated within the academic programme and others have undergone significant changes in terms of educational objectives and syllabus, also based on specific indications that emerged from stakeholder consultations.