The City of Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley (Pianura Padana in Italian), between the Po River and the Apennines, exactly between the Reno River and the Sàvena River. The city lies at the foot of the Apennines Mountains in the fertile plain of Emilia and is a two-hour train ride from both Venice and Milan and within an hour from Ravenna and Florence. A city of ancient origin, Bologna flourished in the Middle Ages, especially during the communal period as a strong Guelph city. Pope Julius II conquered Bologna in 1506 and made it part of the new Pontifical State. During the Renaissance, Bologna flourished and it was the only city in Italy to allow women to excel in any profession and even earn university degrees. Under Napoleon, Bologna was the second-most important center of the Italian Kingdom, after Milan.

A handsome legacy of porticos, churches, palaces, and towers bear witness to Bologna’s rich and powerful past. Bologna, with a population of approximately 500,000 residents, is one of the most important cities of northern Italy. It is a sophisticated and prosperous modern city, full of writers, publishers and politicians. Its stylish boutiques display elegantly tailored, expensive clothing and exquisitely fashioned leather goods. Well dressed pedestrians fill its busy streets, and markets offer Italian delicacies and gourmet foods from across Europe. Bologna ranks often as one of the top cities related to quality of life in Italy. This is due to its strong industrial tradition and physical position--located at the crossing of the most important highways and railways in the country, as well as its wide range of highly-developed social services.

Until the early nineteenth century, when a large-scale urban reconstruction project was undertaken, Bologna remained one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe; to this day it remains unique in its historic value. Despite having suffered considerable bombing damage in 1944, Bologna's historic centre, Europe's second largest (after Venice), contains a wealth of important Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque artistic monuments. The city is often nicknamed “The Red One” due to the color of the roofs in Bologna’s historic center. The cityscape is further enriched by elegant and extensive arcades (or porticos), for which the city is famous, as well as the numerous churches that are scattered throughout the city.

Università di Bologna

The oldest institution of higher learning in Europe and regarded as the first university in the Western World, the University of Bologna (UniBo) began to take shape in Bologna at the end of the eleventh century – a committee in the nineteenth century attributed the establishment of the University to the year 1088 – when masters of Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic began to devote themselves to the law. Soon afterward, the University developed its ancient tradition of humanistic studies. Copernicus, Dante, Petrarch and Tasso represent just some of the University’s distinguished alumni.

With a student population of nearly 96,000, the University is the second-largest in the country. It became a center of research and learning during the Middle Ages, attracting scholars from throughout Christendom. Its history is one of great thinkers in science and the humanities, making it an indispensable point of reference in the panorama of European culture. In the Napoleonic era, the headquarters of the university were moved to their present location on Via Zamboni, in the north-eastern sector of the city centre. Today, the University's 23 faculties, 68 departments, and 93 libraries are spread across the city and include four subsidiary campuses.

Program website: http://www.unibo.it

Bologna Consortial Studies Program

The Bologna Consortial Studies Program (BCSP) program office is located near the Piazza Maggiore in the center of the city. The onsite staff coordinates the orientation program, offers BCSP courses, provides general academic guidance and organizes cultural outings, including excursions to the opera, theater, concerts, and sporting events. The Center offers a small selection of seminar courses. While the specific topics of the program-arranged courses vary on occasion, they focus on the broad area of Italian Studies. Past courses have included The Italian Historical Transformation: from Unification to the Fascist Era, The Cinema of the Italian Economic Miracle, Italian Political History (From World War II to the Nineties), Theater and Visual Arts.

Program website: http://www.indiana.edu/~overseas/bcsp.html

Penn Students at the Università di Bologna

All students are required to take a BCSP pre-registration course that focuses on Italian language and culture, in an effort to integrate exchange students into academic life in Italy. Academic year students take three regular University of Bologna courses during the academic year and choose two or more one-semester BCSP courses. Penn Abroad participants must maintain a full course load of five courses per semester. Final university course selection takes place at the beginning of the term, as course availability and scheduling are not known fully in advance.

Spring semester students will also have the option of taking University of Bologna courses and program center courses; however, limited program courses will be available in the spring semester only. Additionally, as many of the university courses are year-long, students’ choices for the spring semester may be limited. The recommended course load for semester-only participants, in addition to the required pre-session course, is one U. of Bologna course plus two courses offered at the Center.

Penn students are permitted to select courses from the Facultà di Lettere e Filosofia, Facultà di Scienze Politiche, and Facultà Scienze della Formazione. Under special circumstances, students may also select courses in the Facultà d’Economia e Commercio. Whereas Italian students are limited to the courses offered by their own facultà, BCSP students may select courses from any two faculties.

Grading

Italian university grades are awarded on a thirty point scale (i.e., 18 is considered passing, optimal grades are in the upper 20s). The scale is not based on an equal distribution of points nor on a percentage. In the Italian system, a perfect exam or paper may not always be awarded a grade of 30 depending on individual professors' practices. Students are frequently assessed on solely on the results of a final oral exam. Grades are reported to Penn on the Italian scale, and then converted to Penn grades according to standard Italian - U.S. grade equivalencies: A = 29-30, A- = 28, B+ = 27, B = 26, B- = 25, C+ = 24, C = 23, C- = 22, D+ = 21, D = 20, D- = 18-19, F = below 18. As on all Penn Abroad programs, grades are recorded on the Penn transcript and are calculated in the cumulative grade point average. The pass/fail option can be exercised according to the Penn on-campus policy.

Academic Calendar

Academic Year: early September – mid-June

Spring Semester (only): early February – mid-June

Living Arrangements

Students are responsible for finding their own housing in Bologna. During the first week or two after arrival, program students live together in a pensione. With the assistance of the program and of the university’s housing office, students then locate independent apartments in Bologna and usually live with Italian students. The BCSP program provides substantial information about local housing resources and includes time in the beginning of each semester for new students to secure accommodations. While most program participants live in rented apartments with Italian students, some choose to live in Italian households. Because students are responsible for their own accommodation, there is no meal plan, however, there are a variety of restaurants to suit every budget, and the food in Bologna is among the best in all of Italy.

Student Life

Penn has selected Bologna as a study abroad site in which to encourage cultural immersion and the development of cross-cultural competence. Each student is encouraged to become involved in university-based or community-based activities as early as possible in the semester, and remain involved in the activity for the duration of the stay in Bologna. Penn’s on-site coordinator coordinates weekly activities and arranges regular presentations and discussions about Italian culture to help students in their cultural integration. Because developing cross-cultural competence takes effort and time, students should be willing to devote several hours per week to community and university activities, and they must be willing to speak Italian at all times.

In addition, BCSP is committed to making the intercultural experience as rich as possible, not only through the program’s distinctive format of integrated study alongside Italian students, but also through activities outside the classroom. The program staff organizes group activities within Bologna and trips to towns not easily accessible by public transportation. The program coordinator counsels students concerning intercultural adjustments and keeps them abreast of cultural opportunities such as volunteer opportunities, concerts, operas, and theatrical and sporting events. Vacation periods permit extensive travel in Italy and elsewhere in Europe. Students are encouraged to use weekends for shorter trips to explore the region.

Health Insurance

Università di Bologna requires all international students on its campus to enroll in a supplemental private health insurance program. Students on the BCSP program will be enrolled automatically in this policy and will be billed through Penn at a cost of about $50 per semester. Although this policy provides very good coverage, it is not a replacement for students’ primary health insurance.