Degree programme choice orientation
The “SOrT” is Sapienza’s Integrated Orientation and Tutoring Service. The service has a central office on the Main Campus and secondary offices in the Faculties. In the SOrT offices, students can find more specific information about the Faculties and the degree programmes and receive support in making their choices. The central office and Faculty lecturers coordinate inbound orientation and tutoring projects, manage relationships with high/secondary schools and teachers who handle outbound orientation, offer support in the delicate transition phase from school to university, provide assistance to current students as well as information on the educational programmes offered and the administrative procedures for admission to courses.
Orientation initiatives and projects:
1. “Open doors at Sapienza”
This initiative, held every year at the Main Campus, is the most important event dedicated primarily to new students. During the three orientation days, students can meet lecturers and other students, receive information and attend conferences in the Aula Magna on the educational programmes on offer in all the University’s Faculties. The initiative is aimed at anyone who intends to enrol in a Bachelor’s, Single-Cycle Master’s or a Master’s Degree Programme at Sapienza, with a particular focus on students in their final years of high/secondary school. The event is an opportunity for all stakeholders to learn about Sapienza, its educational offer, its places of study and culture and opportunities for socialising, and the many services available to students (libraries and study rooms, museums, university accommodation, sports facilities, the University theatre, and so on). In addition to information on teaching, during the meetings and at the Faculty stands along the University avenues, as well as at the virtual stands, students can get information on the administrative process in general and, more specifically, on the enrolment procedures for the various Courses of Study and they can also obtain specific information on calls for applications to take the entrance exams for the courses.
Furthermore, in order to promote the development of inclusive environments and access to university education, the Department for Relations with students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SDLs) promotes opportunities to discuss career management through personalised and individualised study plans with the provision of educational and/or financial and/or logistical support available to vulnerable students. Finally, the Department guides students in the procedures for requesting support, indicating the clinical certifications that can be submitted.
2. “Sapienza Orientation” Portal
To assist students in their choice of Course of Study, the University has created an online portal (https://orientamento.uniroma1.it/index.html) which offers an immersive, advance look at university life: with navigable images and videos of the campus, classrooms and laboratories, libraries, the theatre and spaces dedicated to music and sport, students can access online teaching modules on the main topics covered in courses as well as assess and improve their preparation for the entrance exams or knowledge assessment tests.
In addition, the portal is the main point of contact for information on the orientation events organised by the various Faculties and Departments throughout the year and hosts videos presenting the Faculties, the Degree Programmes, single-cycle Master’s Degree Programmes and Master’s Degree Programmes, with a particular focus on newly established courses. All the orientation initiatives are promoted on the University’s social media channels in order to attract potentially interested students.
The portal also includes an English version to promote interest from international students and assist them.
3. “A bridge between School and University” project
The project was created with the goals of ensuring a better transition for students leaving high/secondary school and starting life at a university and of facilitating their subsequent integration into their new surroundings.
The project is split into two initiatives:
a) Sapienza introduces itself - Faculty introductory meetings and sample lessons on topics related to each academic area are given by Sapienza lecturers and aimed at high/secondary school students;
b) Sapienza for students - Events are held in schools in order to introduce the services offered by Sapienza and talks are given by specially trained “mentor” and “senior” students about their university experience.
4. Self-assessment tools (developed by Sapienza experts and scientifically tested)
a. “Know yourself”: effective in supporting the decision-making process for choosing an educational programme. Once completed, the tool provides a personality profile, an academic profile and a professional profile.
b. “Me, myself and others”: this tool measures soft skills, i.e. the skills relevant for entering society and the world of work.
5. “Orientation online” project
This is an orientation and realignment project regarding the minimum knowledge required to be able to successfully pass the entrance exams for courses in the biomedical and psychological fields. The initiative involves a preparatory course, with an initial phase of distance learning and a second phase of intensive in-person courses, for entrance to the Faculties with limited places in the biomedical, healthcare and psychological fields. The course is aimed at students in the last years of their high/secondary school education.
6. “Transversal Skills and Career Guidance Pathways” (formerly alternanza scuola-lavoro)
This is a teaching method which, through practical experience, helps high/secondary school students consolidate the knowledge acquired in school and test their abilities in the field, while enriching their training and orienting their studies.
7. “Next Generation Orientation”
This is a joint project involving all the Universities in the Lazio region. Funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, it has been designed to help students in the region make informed choices about their post-school education, as well as to help them define their personal and professional careers.
The project involves a 15-hour programme, given by Sapienza lecturers either in-person or as part of the curriculum, in 5 modules of 3 hours spread over 5 days, ideally consecutive days unless otherwise agreed with the school, and it covers the following subjects (purely by way of example):
- Module A - Why is studying worthwhile?
- Module B - How do you study at university?
- Module C - How can you best prepare yourself for studying at university?
- Module D - Who am I and who will I be when I grow up?
- Module E - What professions can I aspire to?
8. Preparation for the entrance exams
Sapienza uses the CISIA Online Entrance Tests (TOLC) which can be taken by high/secondary school students via the CISIA portal, which offers preparation for the tests through the Placement Tests for Students. The Placement Tests for Students are real tests which give the student immediate feedback on their level of preparation, based on a comparison of the responses given and the scores achieved on the same questions given by people taking the same TOLC in previous years.
9. “Minimum knowledge”
The project is dedicated to the realignment of minimum knowledge, i.e. the basic knowledge you need to have in order to succeed on your chosen course. It involves the use of lectures recorded by university lecturers with the specific aims of enhancing entry-level knowledge and promoting a more informed and motivated university career.
10. “Of@Sapienza”
To improve the level of entrance exam preparation and to avoid being assigned Additional Learning Requirements in Italian and Mathematics, the e-leaning Of@Sapienza channel is available: students can find useful tools here to prepare themselves independently and to increase their level of the minimum required knowledge for degree courses in the humanities, engineering and architecture fields.
11. “Orientation events”
The page, https://www.uniroma1.it/it/node/347362, contains a list, in chronological order, of all the orientation events organised by the University, the Faculties, the Departments and the Teaching Area Councils/Courses of Study.
Furthermore, in order to support the choice of the Course of Study and to highlight the services made available to students with disabilities and with specific learning disorders, Sapienza organises meetings with academic institutions and individual orientation sessions with high/secondary schools.
Thereafter, the University supports students with disabilities and with specific learning disorders in the delicate and important process of inbound orientation, assessment and admission selection.
The “Students with disabilities and with specific learning disorders sector” assesses which individualised methods of completing the entrance exams will be necessary considering the certifications submitted by the students.
For enrolment in a local or national Course of Study which has limited places and which requires a selective entrance exam, people with disabilities may request certain compensatory measures (such as, for example, a dedicated classroom, additional time, a reading tutor, an accompanying tutor, a sign language interpreter, a calculator). Such requests should be made by following the methods indicated in the admissions notice for the Course of Study. In the same way, for enrolment in a Course of Study which involves TOLC-type entrance tests, as managed by the CISIA consortium, be it in-person or remotely via TOLC@CASA, people with disabilities and/or with specific learning disorders may request support measures in accordance with the methods and the timing laid out in the administrative procedures for registering for a test.
Finally, the “Students with disabilities and specific learning disorders sector” is responsible for dealing with new students who find themselves in a vulnerable situation with the support of specialist tutors, peer tutors and sign language interpreters.
***Course of Study activities***
The “SOrT” is Sapienza’s Integrated Orientation and Tutoring Service. The service has a central office on the Main Campus and secondary offices in the Faculties. In the SOrT offices, students can find more specific information about the Faculties and the degree programmes, as well as obtain support in making their choices. The central office and the appointed Faculty lecturers: (1) coordinate inbound orientation and tutoring projects; (2) manage relationships with high/secondary schools and teachers who handle outbound orientation; (3) offer support in the delicate transition phase from school to university; (4) provide assistance to current students; (5) offer information on the educational programmes offered and the administrative procedures for admission to courses.
The Faculty has its own Orientation and Tutoring Committee (CORET), which includes lecturers, technical-administrative personnel and student representatives. The CORET regularly organises meetings with the Presidents of the Teaching Area Councils and the Courses of Study and with the departmental academic heads of the administrative offices. The student orientation activities include the organisation of Open Days and the “Open Doors at Sapienza” event, alongside which the Faculty has, in recent years, organised specific on-site activities. Orientation meetings at individual schools are included in these activities and remote orientation has also been added, specifically through the production of specific videos produced by the Faculty.
The Course of Study in Philosophy is very active and involved in all the University’s projects and events with many lecturers and administrative personnel and student tutors participating. Specifically: (a) the Course of Study actively participates in the “Open doors at Sapienza” event by offering information on the course through the presence of the President of the Course of Study, the Teaching Coordinator, various lecturers from the Course of Study and some specific assigned student tutors; (b) each year, the Course of Study organises (before lessons start) a Course Introduction Day attended by the President of the Teaching Area Council, the Teaching Coordinator, the Academic Coordinator for Mobility and the Director of the Philosophy Library, as well as by student representatives. The aim is to welcome new students and provide them with information relating to the course and, more in general, to the services offered by the University; (c) the Course of Study ensures a significant number of lecturers and student tutors are assigned to provide adequate support and inbound orientation advice to students; (d) the Course of Study organises a Transversal Skills and Career Guidance Pathway in “Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence”, which offers high/secondary school students a direct link with the Course of Study activities to encourage a more mature, informed choice. Information is available at: https://pcto.uniroma1.it