Advising
The University of Parma pays particular attention to orientation projects aimed at high school students, in order to promote an accurate and in-depth knowledge of the University's course catalogue and, at the same time, to stimulate conscious choices of their university career also through appropriate preparatory activities aimed at verifying the possession of the knowledge and/or skills or the adjustment of personal preparation necessary for access to study courses.
At the same time, orientation activities, in addition to focusing on investigations into the motivations and expectations of incoming students, contemplate the use of innovative teaching experiences, as a function of orientation itself, in order to achieve career regularity. With this in mind, the service is aimed at enhancing the tools for assessing students' incoming skills.
The procedures for enrolling, admitting students and managing their careers are set out in the Prospectus and the University Regulations and communicated through specific sections of the University website; a specific section of the University portal is dedicated to new students: University of Parma the world that awaits you . An important network of activities and services, described in the document University Policy for Student Services and coordinated by the Guidance delegate, is constantly updated and optimised to accompany students throughout their university career, from guidance to tutoring, internships and traineeships to job placements, taking into account the dynamic needs of students, University strategies and the opportunities offered by national or regional calls for guidance.
In order to facilitate students in their studies and to develop their soft skills, the university has adopted a number of special regulations such as, for instance, the Regulations for the enrolment of part-time students, the Regulations for free participation activities and the Regulations for the activation and management of an alias career for subjects in gender transition. The university pays particular attention to the problems of students with disabilities, so much so that it has already set up a support centre for students with disabilities, D.S.A. and B.E.S., currently known as CAI, since 2000. Recently implemented is the establishment of the Prison University Pole with the aim of fostering the right to study of those in a state of restriction of personal liberty. A specific mentoring activity is planned for high-level student athletes.
The actions implemented by the University are reported annually in the Performance Report document and are monitored annually in a report by the Rector's delegates.
For the reception of foreign students, a number of activities have been initiated that can be consulted on the English version of the University's website. In order to promote the recruitment of foreign students, the university has stepped up its reception activities, as well as supporting them in finding accommodation and housing and with the establishment of Foundation Year, a preparatory training course for foreign students with less than 12 years of schooling.
In general, the orientation service consists of guaranteeing all the activities related to the advising processes of students, supporting future students and their families in making informed choices of the university pathway, and welcoming students, including foreign students, into the university environment.
The main activities of the Welcome and Guidance division are carried out in support of and in close collaboration with the teaching staff delegated for guidance, appointed for each course of study, and range from the organisation of and participation in advising meetings held at upper secondary schools to the organisation of educational visits to Departments, aimed at helping students in the final years of upper secondary schools choose their course of study, from participation in national orientation fairs, organised in various locations throughout Italy, to collaboration in the organisation of the ""Studiare a Parma"" (Study in Parma) open days held annually at the University in the spring, and the ""From Maturity to University"" (Info Day) held annually at the University in the summer, to coincide with the opening of enrolment.
It is also worth mentioning the dissemination of information to future students on how to access courses of study, the care of projects in collaboration with upper secondary schools as part of entry orientation activities, support for the structures involved in 'Alternanza Scuola-Lavoro' courses and the holding of information and advising interviews for students and families; finally, the service handles the management of guidance processes for enrolled students, in collaboration with the teaching staff and the psychological counseling service.
In connection with high schools, the University has launched a series of specific projects involving school teachers in coordination with UNIPR teachers with a view to supporting the preparation of school students for university enrolment.
The activity of welcoming foreign students and refugees deserves a separate discourse. Over the years, this activity has become increasingly important within the objectives that the University has set itself, also from an administrative point of view, especially with regard to the assessment of foreign qualifications that students submit upon enrolment and, in some cases, send before arrival in Italy for prior assessment for admission to Second-cycle degree courses. With regard to the delicate and current context of the refugee situation, the university recently joined the National Coordination on the Evaluation of Refugee Qualifications (CNVQR) with which the MIUR, with the support of the CIMEA, has set itself the objective of providing universities with useful tools to proceed with the recognition of the qualifications of refugees with little or no documentation. The University of Parma, within the framework of this project, which is also part of the University Plan for Refugees, was able to receive precise notions on the procedure to follow in cases of poor or absent documentation, establishing important contacts with other universities and with CIMEA staff, for fruitful cooperation. Based on this protocol, the Careers and Services for Students provides accommodation for refugees with confirmed status, as well as asylum seekers. For everyone, i.e. both those with recognised refugee status and those with a status that is not yet final and with partial or deficient documentation, the qualifications submitted are assessed. In this context, numerous discussions are scheduled, both with students and with the mediators of the associations, as well as with the Presidents of the Course Councils to which the students approach, and with ER.GO. for possible benefits.
In addition to all these centrally coordinated activities, there are other actions implemented on the direct initiative of individual departments, courses of study and their delegates. These initiatives take the form of internships activated at individual departments by the guidance delegates of the various courses of study and take place over one or more days; the relevant information is collected in a digital brochure published annually on the website; the same brochure is sent by email, through direct contact with school guidance directors and teachers, to all schools in the catchment area (Parma and neighbouring provinces as well as other provinces in which guidance meetings are organised in schools or where guidance fairs are held).
In addition to internships, it is worth mentioning the more specific initiatives organised directly by teachers (not necessarily delegated for guidance). These actions are thematic and are once again aimed at high school students in order to provide them with further information on study paths leading to more or less 'canonical' professional profiles.
In addition, it was also intended to conceive advising as a function of the choice of Second-cycle degree, so as to orientate it, favouring vocation and talent, through more intensive contacts with students enrolled in First-cycle degrees.
Lastly, it seems appropriate, in this context, to mention the Customer Satisfaction project undertaken by the University of Parma, capable of allowing, among other things, the assessment of the effectiveness of orientation actions, an open issue and not entirely resolved in the national panorama, so as to allow a more conscious and targeted choice by students and, in particular, to verify that orientation actions are productive, not so much in terms of attractiveness to the University, but in terms of improving the performance of students who then matriculate at the University of Parma.
Advising activities aimed at prospective new students were also developed through various activities carried out by the Guidance delegates and other teaching staff of the Second-cycle degree in Food Science and Technology course. Advising activities took place at guidance fairs organised by the university. In particular, during the Open Day, the lecturers gave a presentation of the Second-cycle Degree Course, using information material relating to the characteristics of the Course and the results of the placement of Second-cycle graduates in the world of work. Information desks were also set up where teaching staff members, students and tutors provided detailed information on teaching plans, student services and enrolment procedures. The future new students also had the opportunity to visit the facilities and laboratories of the department's research groups.
Throughout the academic year, the guidance delegates conducted a constant and conspicuous activity in response to the numerous requests from prospective students received by e-mail or telephone and through ad personam meetings.
In addition, given the introduction of programmed access at local level to the Second-cycle Degree Course, future students were constantly supported in assessing whether they met the requirements for admission and guided in the eventual pathway to achieving them.
A further source of assistance is provided by the Education Manager as a support and liaison figure between lecturers and students, understood not only as a listening service, but as an active and participatory figure in induction and guidance activities. The Education Manager collaborates with the guidance delegates of the agri-food courses in the organisation of the information days organised for the Second-cycle courses by the University (Open Day, Info Day), through ad personam meetings with students (and their families) and in re-orientation activities for students whose cohorts belong to course orders that are now exhausted or no longer active.
The guidance delegates of the Second-cycle degree in Food Science and Technology course also actively collaborated in the advising initiatives for choosing a study path organised in the area by municipalities and other institutions."
