Languages, Cultures, Literature, Translation

Sapienza's Quality Assurance System (AQ) is described in detail on the Quality Team's web pages, available at https://www.uniroma1.it/it/pagina/team-qualita.
The web pages describe the ten-year process developed by the University to establish Sapienza's Quality Assurance system, the organisational model adopted, the QA stakeholders (Quality Team, Monitoring Committees, Joint Teacher-Student Committees, Study Programme Quality Committees), the active Working Groups, the main activities developed, and the documentation prepared for the management of Quality Assurance processes and activities in Teaching, Research and the Third Mission.
The web pages also serve as a platform for communication and for making reference data available for review activities, for the drafting of reports by the Joint Teacher-Student Committees and Monitoring Committees, and for the compilation of the SUA-Teaching and SUA-Research forms.
Each degree programme and each department is then free to adapt the Sapienza Quality Assurance Model defined on the Quality Team web pages in the Quality Assurance section of the degree programme/department, adapting it to its own organisational specificities while complying with the models and procedures defined by ANVUR and the Quality Team.
The Degree Programme/Department web pages, together with the SUA-Didattica and SUA-Ricerca forms, are the tools used to communicate how the Quality Assurance System is implemented at the Degree Programme/Department level.
The Degree Programme Quality Assurance Committee is composed of the Programme Chair, additional lecturers, a technical-administrative representative and one or more student representatives. The CGAQ holds regular meetings to review the corrective actions proposed in the Monitoring Reports and Review Reports.
The Degree Programme Quality Committee is actively involved in planning the work related to the evaluation and self-evaluation process of the Degree Programme. Based on the deadlines communicated by the University and the relevant documentary sources, it draws up the following documents annually: Annual Monitoring Report, Dars Opis and, every five years, a Cyclical Review Report, and updates the SUA Report of the Degree Programme. It also constantly monitors student careers in order to avoid delays in the awarding of degrees and dropouts.

Steering Committee Department Seai
Avv. Massimo Antonazzi (Expert in intercultural negotiation at Studio Dotto-Antonazzi);
Dott. ssa Anastacia Bachiocchi (Degree in Linguistic and Intercultural Mediation, matriculation number 20215023;
Dott. ssa Valentina Bartalesi (Researcher in Artificial Intelligence for Media and Humanities -AIMH-, CNR-ISTI);
Dott. Francesco Bernardini (Degree in Foreign Languages, Cultures and Literatures, matriculation number 1998878);
Dott.ssa Daniela Bico (Quality, Social Report and Impact Assessment Manager of Cies onlus);
Avv. Rita Coco (Advocacy Officer of the Rete dei Comuni Solidali);
Prof. Michele Colucci (First researcher at ISMed-CNR, Rome office);
Prof. Luca Crescenzi (President of the Italian Institute of Germanic Studies);
Prof. ssa Stefania De Lucia (Contact person for outgoing orientation of the I. I.S. Bassano Romano);
Prof. Donato Di Sanzo (Researcher at ISMed-CNR, Naples office);
Ing. Mauro Draoli (P.O. Referent for the structures: Procurement Strategies and Market Innovation Service and Innovative Procurement Service, AgID);
Prof. ssa Chiara Elefante (Coordinator of the Doctorate in Translation, Interpretation and Interculturality, University of Bologna, Department of Interpretation and Translation - DIT);
Dr. Alessandro Fabrizi (Artistic Director of Teatro Eco Logico); Prof. Claudia Foti (President of the Sez. Lazio dell'AITI - Associazione Interpreti e Traduttori Italiani);
Dott. ssa Cristina Guarnieri (Publishing Manager of Castelvecchi Editore);
Dott. Edoardo Lampis (Project Manager Cluster and Community area, Lazio Innova/DTC);
Dott. ssa Motoko Nakajima (Interpreter and translator, member of Assointerpreti);
Dott. Valerio Monticelli (Graduated in English and Anglo-American Studies, matriculation number 1813772);
Dott. ssa Eva Pietroni (Staff Member of the Digital Heritage Innovation Lab, CNR-ISPC);
Prof. Francesco Rovai (Coordinator of the Doctorate in Linguistic Disciplines and Foreign Literatures, University of Pisa);
Dott. ssa Paola Toniolo Piva (Coordinator of the Rete Scuolemigranti - Centro Servizi Volontariati Lazio);
Prof. ssa Lucrezia Ungaro (Councillor referent Museums of the Territory: relations and initiatives of connection Roma Capitale-Regione Lazio, Distretto tecnologico BB.CC. Lazio, ICOM).

The reference Joint Teaching-Student Committee for the Degree Course in Languages, Cultures, Literature and Translation is that of the Faculty of Humanities.
The Commission for Quality Assurance Management maintains constant and fruitful relations with the Faculty's Joint Teachers' and Students' Committee (as well as with the Humanities Monitoring Committee), whose annual reports it analyses, ponders strategies and implements recommendations.

On 9 December 2008, the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy convened numerous organisations representing the world of production, services and professions consistent with the Faculty's educational offering, such as: Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Altamoda, Ass. Italia Nostra, Ass. Italiana Insegnanti di Geografia, Casa Ed. Laterza, Centro Informaz. Geocartografiche Aeron., Experimental Phonetics Research Centre, CGIL School, CISL National School, Edizioni d' Storia e Letteratura, Esri Italia, Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers, Italian National Press Federation, Rome Opera House Foundation, IsIAO-Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italian Encyclopaedia Institute, National Museum of Oriental Art, L. Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography, Dante Alighieri Society, Italian Geographical Society, SIAE, Interreligious Round Table, Regional Education Office for Lazio, UIL National School Secretariat. The delegates examined, discussed and finally approved the Faculty's official proposal and specifically the degree course in question.
At the final meeting of the University-level consultation on 19 January 2009, considering the results of the online consultation that preceded it, the organisations involved gave a favourable assessment of the rationalisation of La Sapienza's educational offering, aimed not only at reducing the number of courses but also at diversifying them into classes that are highly attractive and for which there is more than adequate teaching staff. Furthermore, after evaluating the Faculties' Educational Offer in detail, the organisations themselves expressed a favourable opinion on the establishment of the individual courses.
 

The consultations relating to the 2024-2025 academic year, which are also valid for the 2025-2026 academic year, are presented below.

The parties consulted were duly invited to take part in the consultation and were provided with an attachment containing the following specific points from the revised SUA-CdS form: A4.a (SPECIFIC EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME); A4.b1 - Knowledge and understanding; A4.b1 - Ability to apply knowledge and understanding; A2.a - The professional profile to be trained; A2.a - Function in a work context: Main functions of the professional figure and list of skills associated with the function; A2.a - Skills associated with the function in a work context; A2.a - Employment opportunities, A2.b - The course prepares for the profession of (ISTAT code). This appendix also contained a table of the exams required for the training programme and their schedule by year (with a list of languages of study and a general indication of the courses planned for related and supplementary subjects), and a brief summary of the results of the most relevant indicators on 'Careers', 'Satisfaction' and 'Employability', based on Almalaurea and Opis data for the last two years.
Also attached to the above email, they were sent a consultation questionnaire (specifically prepared based on the model provided by the University) to be completed after the meeting and returned dated and signed. The entire process was overseen by the chair, Prof. Gabriele Guerra (from 01/11/2024), in agreement with the outgoing chair of the CdS, Prof. Chiara Bolognese.
The following individuals were selected and consulted:
- The president of the Master's Degree Programme in Literary and Translation Studies (LM37) at Sapienza University of Rome expressed her full satisfaction with the changes introduced to the programme structure. She gave a positive assessment of the tables and text of the draft submitted for evaluation, expressing her appreciation for the proposed increase in credits for language and translation courses, as well as giving an overall positive assessment of the graduates of our degree programme who subsequently enrolled in the Master's Degree Programme in SLLT, emphasising their ability to build on and further improve the good linguistic and intercultural skills acquired during the three-year programme (consultation took place on 12/10/2024, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QRUXtx7XR_x3ux9TWtjTZi_pnnGYDqMx...).
- a representative of the students at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Assembly enrolled in the Degree Programme in Languages, Cultures, Literature and Translation, who expressed satisfaction with the changes being introduced to the regulations to make the distribution of exams clearer, particularly with regard to the inclusion of other literature courses among the related and supplementary courses; However, she stressed the need to proceed in this way for all three years of the course and complained that this possibility is limited to the first year of the course. The representative also pointed out that the 6 CFU for AAF are all grouped together in the third year, making it more difficult to obtain them at the end of the course (a difficulty exacerbated by the fact that there are not many options, for example for working students). Other points to be addressed are the structure of the language courses, which do not provide sufficient guarantees to students regarding the completion of the entire exam; also, the coexistence of very different programmes between similar Language and Literature channels (consultation took place on 21/10/2024, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QRUXtx7XR_x3ux9TWtjTZi_pnnGYDqMx...).
- The editorial manager of the publishing house 'Castelvecchi/LIT' in Rome, affiliated with the AIE (Italian Publishers Association), who considers the name of the degree programme to be entirely appropriate; however, considers that the professional profiles that the CdS aims to train only partially meet the needs of the professional sector in which it operates; furthermore, the professional profiles indicated as possible career opportunities for CdS graduates, namely 'international intermediation expert', 'language services operator' and 'translator' are considered to be of little or no relevance to the corresponding world of work (in particular the first type), corresponding to those of the editorial press office in the case of the second, and directly related to the book market in the case of the third (which, however, should have a greater 'cultural' background in publishing). More specifically, it is emphasised that in order to be an editor, it is necessary to be familiar with the major layout programmes and editorial processes: training should therefore be essentially practical in nature. In this regard, it is proposed to include the role of editor among the functions envisaged, i.e. as the person who contributes to the planning of the editorial programme and who deals directly with authors and texts. Another aspect that is strongly emphasised is the need to have a command of at least three foreign languages, both spoken and written; while in the field of publishing, more practical workshops or lessons are needed to enable students to understand how their cultural background can be put to practical use in editorial work.
In conclusion, it is argued that those wishing to pursue a career as a translator should attend ongoing seminars on both practical and theoretical translation (with regard to editorial training that meets the specific needs of a publishing house), including on the various copyright laws, while those wishing to pursue a career as an editor will need to know how to use a layout programme (e.g. Indesign), know how to proofread, read a text, and do macro- and micro-editing: specialised courses and postgraduate courses that provide practical tools. For those who want to be editors, on the other hand, editorial training is essential in order to understand how to decide on an editorial plan, how to turn a cultural project into reality, how to develop an author policy, etc.
(consulted on 29/10/2024, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QRUXtx7XR_x3ux9TWtjTZi_pnnGYDqMx...).
- A high school teacher, permanent lecturer in German language and culture, coordinator of the foreign languages department at her school and guidance counsellor, also considers the name of the degree programme to be entirely appropriate; she emphasises that, among the professional figures that the degree programme aims to train, translators are the least suited to the needs of the professional sector in which they intend to work; Finally, however, she emphasises that the professionals the programme aims to train could successfully work alongside the school system to facilitate intercultural communication with the increasing number of foreign students attending our schools. This training should specifically offer courses in teaching and in-depth study of Italian as a foreign language.
(consultation took place on 20/10/2024, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QRUXtx7XR_x3ux9TWtjTZi_pnnGYDqMx...).
- The President of the Italian Institute of German Studies, based in Rome, via Calandrelli 25 (the Institute is a research body supervised by the Ministry of University and Research), notes that the course clearly belongs to the broad category of academic language and cultural courses, but the sequence of skills does not make the specificities or distinctive characteristics of the subjects taught clear, resulting in a lack of clarity for those interested; Among the professional profiles proposed, the one least relevant to the corresponding sector is that of 'Operator in linguistic, cultural and publishing services', as well as that of journalist. Finally, the forms and fields of cultural mediation should be better specified in their areas of competence, given the generic nature of the wording.
(consultation on 23/10/2024, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QRUXtx7XR_x3ux9TWtjTZi_pnnGYDqMx...).