Organization and responsibilities of the Quality Assurance (AQ) within the Study Programme

The Study Programme Board (Consiglio di Corso di Studi, CCS) is the organism that designs and implements courses and educational offers. It brings together teachers of courses and modules provided by the Study Programme (Corso di Studi, CdS) and some Student Representatives, elected by the students of the same CdS.

More specifically, the CCS prepares and proposes to the School the “Teaching Regulations” (“Regolamento Didattico”) of the CdS, analyzes its consistency with offered training and labor market requirements, assesses the effectiveness and quality of the courses taught, and undertakes corrective and improvement actions eventually necessary.

Each CdS is governed by a Coordinator, who chairs the Study Programme (CdS) Board and is elected from among the members of the Board. The Coordinator is the first and most important presidium, able to warn of problems arising in the CdS, even before they stem out from monitoring data, and therefore capable to promptly intervene. He has the responsibility of involving teachers of the CdS, keeping them informed of the University strategies and the decisions concerning the CdS. The Coordinator is called upon to carry out all activities required for planning, definition, establishment, activation, modification and provision of offered courses. Given the multiple activities for which he is responsible, the Coordinator usually appoints Referents and Commissions within the CdS that collaborate with him.

Every year, in collaboration with the Dean of the School, the Coordinator identifies or confirms at School level:

• members of the Graduations Committee;
• members of the Admission to Laurea Magistrale (M.S.E.E.) Committee;
• members of the International Mobility Committee;
• members of the Tutoring Committee;
• members of the Lesson Timetables / Exams Committee.

Inoltre, con modalità e tempi definiti nel “Regolamento di Scuola“, il Coordinatore individua o conferma:
Furthermore, with modalities and times defined by the “School Regulations” (“Regolamento di Scuola”), the Coordinator identifies or confirms:

• members of the Review Group;
• the Quality Assurance Referent;
• the Transfer and Recognition Referent;
• the Study Plans Referent.

The management of the educational offer for the current academic year requires the following activities by the Coordinator of the CdS.

• Admission to the Laurea Magistrale (M.S.E.E.) Master’s Degree: collaborates with the School Access Committee to assess the admission requirements to the M.S.E.E.’s Degree and proposes candidates for the assignment of specific educational compulsory courses.
• Approval of Study Plans: collaborates with the Study Program Coordinator of the CdS for the approval of the Autonomous Study Plans, which present discrepancies from the “Teaching Regulations” (“Regolamento Didattico”) and cannot be presented / modified online. He evaluates the request, and validates it through the “Study Plans Presentation” application.
• Teaching assignment sheets: approves the teaching assignment sheets, prepared by the professors in charge of the courses of the CdS, checking the consistency between offered teaching and what is listed in the “Detailed Teaching Schedule” application.
• Educational mix: he collaborates with the Dean of the School to monitor the educational activities. If the difference between the educational mix (i.e., hours of lessons, exercise classes, and laboratories) supplied with respect to the expected one is greater than ± 10 hours or if and the difference between the ECTS university credits provided with respect to those foreseen is negative, he intervenes to resolve the inconsistencies or urges the teacher to register the hours.
• Identification and provision of infrastructures: he collaborates with the University services in identifying any problem relating to the infrastructures used by students and teachers, communicating any proposals for improvements to the Dean.
• Freshmen meeting: organize the first meeting (the “Zero Lesson”) with freshmen to present them the Study Programme and explain how the exam evaluations take place.
• Graduation Commitee: he collaborates with the Dean in selecting the members of the Graduation Committee to be proposed to the Rector.
• Tutoring in itinere: he collaborates with the School Tutoring Committee in the organization and management of the guidance and tutoring services in itinere.
• International Mobility: he decides on the proposals made by the International School Mobility Commission in the choice of agreements for international student mobility and he collaborates with the University services in organizing and managing the assistance for training periods abroad.
• Improvement Actions: he implements the improvement actions proposed in the “Review” (“Riesame”) document of the previous academic year.
• Instances: he is responsible for managing the student requests he receives by e-mail from the Student Secretariat or from other University offices.

If no changes are foreseen, the management of the educational offer for the next academic year requires the following activities:

• Review and improvement actions: the Coordinator receives data about the CdS and a “Review” template from the University; after defining and convening the Review Group (“Gruppo di Riesame”) it starts the drafting of the document, defining the improvement actions for the following years. Once the first review phase is closed, he sends the product to the AVA Presidium (Presidium for Self-assessment, Evaluation and Accreditation, AVA). The “Review” document is reviewed and sent to the respective Joint Teachers-Students Committee of the School (defined according to what is reported in the University Statute art.27) which has, among others, the task of evaluating it and formulating any proposals for improvement. The Coordinator will then receive the reports of the respective Joint Teachers-Students Committee to carry out any further revision of the “Review” document and the proposed improvement actions.
• Student opinions on teaching: the Coordinator collaborates with the Dean of the School in analyzing the results obtained for the CdS; he identifies problems and possible causes, then he proposes resolutions.
• Definition of the programmed number: he collaborates with the Dean in defining the programmed number of students ammitted to the CdS.
• Manifesto of Studies: he proposes the “Manifesto of Studies” of the CdS to the School.
• Education rules: he prepares and proposes to the School the “Education Rules” (“Regolamento didattico”) of the CdS, defining: educational profile, professional and occupational opportunities, based on the results obtained from consultation with the job market; admission requirements and procedures for verifying admission requirements and rules for the recognition of previous periods of study, criteria for the assignment of specific additional training obligations (compulsory courses to pass) and procedures for verifying their satisfaction; specific training objectives of the CdS; expected learning outcomes; how to check exams, assessment tests and the final exam, in collaboration with the School; programme paths, teaching metodologies, and other training activities.
• Admission to Laurea Magistrale (M.S.E.E.): he collaborates with the Access and Admissions Committee to the M.S.E.E. for assessing the equivalence of foreign Bachelor’s Degree for admission to the Master’s Degree.
• Assessment of the previous career: he collaborates with the Transfer and Recognition Referent to the evaluation of the previous career of students who apply for transfer from other Bachelor’s degree to the Laurea (B.S.E.E.) through the University online application. Access to the Master’s Degree follows the normal course.
• Job market: he collaborates with the Career Service to identify the representative organizations of the industrial world and define ways, times, and outcomes of the consultation.
• SUA-CdS form: he fills in the University Form for the Study Programme (“Scheda Unica di Ateneo per il Corso di Studi”, SUA-CdS) for the CdS, except those of new institution.
• Open Day: he supervises the organization of the “Open Day” event and the presentation of the Study Programme in Electronics Engineering, for both the Laurea (B.S.E.E.) and the Laurea Magistrale (M.S.E.E.).

La gestione dell’offerta formativa per l’anno accademico futuro, per cui si prevedono modifiche all’ordinamento, richiede le stesse attività elencate in precedenza, per la gestione dell’offerta formativa futura senza modifiche all’ordinamento, ma con scadenze anticipate. Le proposte di modifica degli ordinamenti didattici andranno presentate nella parte ordinamentale (RaD) della scheda SUA-CdS entro febbraio. Il Coordinatore propone alla Scuola di appartenenza le proposte di modifica all’ordinamento del CdS. Con periodicità non superiore a cinque anni, e comunque su richiesta specifica dell’ANVUR (Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca), del MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca) o dell’Ateneo, o in presenza di forti criticità o di modifiche sostanziali dell’ordinamento, il Coordinatore del CdS è responsabile della:

When changes to the regulations are envisaged, the management of the educational offer for the next academic year requires the same activities listed above (i.e., as in the case of no changes), but with early deadlines. Proposals for changes to educational regulations will be presented in the legal section (“RaD”) of the “SUA-CdS” form by February. The Coordinator proposes to the School the proposed changes. With periodicity not exceeding five years, and in any case upon specific request of ANVUR ( Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes), MIUR (Ministry of Education, University, and Research) or University, or in the presence of strong critical issues or substantial changes, the Coordinator of the CdS is responsible for:

• definition of educational goals to be achieved (identification of the educational requests);
• definition of appropriate activities to achieve the educational goals (lessons, courses, methods of verification, etc.);
• systematic checks on the achievement of educational goals (“Cyclical review“, “Riesame Ciclico”).