The first European university opened in 1088 in Bologna.
Solid red brick buildings, narrow streets, even narrower sidewalks with ever-bustling crowds, high arches, a huge number of snack bars where you can eat a panino and drink espresso at any time of day – and towers, towers, towers… That is how Bologna appears to the eye. What lies behind this noisy and ancient reddish-brown ensemble?
Let's start with the unpleasant. Bologna is close to the past not only in architecture, but also in the stench on the streets. It would seem: how can such a problem exist in the 21st century in a developed city? The answer lies in the Italians' love for dogs, which often defecate right in the middle of the streets, and the huge number of homeless people who also have tender feelings for their four-legged friends and beg for alms, playing on pity precisely by claiming they have nothing to feed their pets. Meanwhile, the pets (often noble Labradors) are forced to sit on a leash all day near their lazy, unwilling-to-work owners.
Well, we've found a fly in the ointment, now we can move on to describing the city's merits. What is Bologna? First of all, it is a rich heritage of centuries of history. This lady was born long before our era, in 540. And in 1088, a fateful event happened in her life – the opening of the first university in Europe. Since then, the city has been saturated with a student spirit of freedom, redolent with the aroma of local wine, often drunk by them on the main student square, where they sit right on the asphalt and wash it down with pizza.
Students are the part of Bologna's population that does not let the old lady age peacefully. Since the founding of the university, students have felt free compared to the teachers: the main feature of this institution was that students themselves chose their rector and professors, who were also obliged not to teach anywhere except the University of Bologna.
I was lucky to avoid the traditional university admission process. I got here through the European educational program Erasmus Mundus. The main goal of the program is to erase borders and eliminate differences in the higher education system between different European countries.
OPPORTUNITY to participate in this project is available to all students of state universities that have partners among European universities. To take part in the program, you need to collect and translate into English a large number of documents, mainly related to studies (such as grades for all years of study, teacher reviews); provide a certificate confirming knowledge of a foreign language. And most importantly – write a motivation letter in which you must state the reasons why you want to go study at a particular European university.
The motivation letter is the most important part, since the other documents submitted to the European Commission, which issues a verdict after 3-4 months, are practically the same for everyone.
Upon receiving the grant, the student is awarded a scholarship of 1000 euros per month, tuition at the faculty of the corresponding profile, plane tickets and insurance are paid. After the difficult process of obtaining the grant was completed, I set off to acquire knowledge at Alma Mater Studorium Universita di Bologna.
The University of Bologna consists of many buildings where teaching takes place; here they are called 'campuses'. Some buildings are old and resemble half-ruined museums with complex labyrinths and statues in the corridors, others, on the contrary, are new and modern. Not all campuses are in Bologna, some are located in nearby small towns: Forlì, Cesena, Ravenna, Rimini, and there is even one in distant Buenos Aires. This multi-campus structure is aimed at improving the conditions of study and living for students. And indeed, Bologna is overcrowded with students; dispersing them across the region is a good idea.
STUDYING takes place in the traditional form of lectures and practical classes, followed by exams at the end of the semester. I want to refute a popular stereotype that we are fed all our lives in our schools and universities, that 'in Europe the student is left to himself, no one really explains anything to him, and it's almost self-education.' Yes, the greater part of responsibility for acquiring knowledge lies with the student, but this does not mean that teachers do not fulfill their duties. On the contrary, lectures are informative and educational. Almost every teacher supports his speech with visual material – Power Point presentations, in which the main topics covered in the lecture are highlighted in bullet points.
Then each presentation, and any handout material that was given during the lecture or practical class, the teacher uploads to a special internet server intended specifically for university students, where everything is stored in open access and can be downloaded at any convenient time. It is easy to contact the teacher by email.
In general, European education has long been computerized: each teacher has his own personal website, which indicates everything a student might need: office hours, email address, academic degree, scientific projects he is involved in, his course syllabus, etc.; there is an electronic timetable, in which necessary changes are regularly made (a very convenient form of organizing the educational process, which helps prevent useless time spent at the university); lists of recommended literature separately for each course, and so on.
Attendance at the University of Bologna is much less strict than at our universities. No one keeps track of attendance. This approach is relaxing, and you need to be an organized person to attend all lectures. Many students often skip them. This makes exam preparation much more difficult: the material is usually quite challenging and it's not easy to understand on your own, while during lectures the teacher literally "spoon-feeds" the material.
To be allowed to take an exam, you need to register on your personal student page and have at least 50 percent lecture attendance (although how this is regulated with the complete indifference of teachers to attendance is still unclear to me). Students at the University of Bologna have several chances to pass the same exam – from two to four, and the interval between attempts can be quite long.
For example, if a subject ended in December of the second year of study, the last attempt to pass it could be as late as the fall of the following year. At first glance, this may seem like a 'freebie,' but it's not at all. To pass successfully, you need to go through a huge amount of information: several textbooks, handouts, lecture notes, additional resources mentioned in lectures, etc. Moreover, you need to master the material deeply enough to be able to maintain a forty-minute conversation with the teacher, or even two, on the given topic.
The difficulty of the exam also lies in the fact that most of them are oral and no time is given to gather your thoughts. You enter the classroom, sit down in front of the teacher, and the conversation begins immediately.
Due to the 'multiple-attempt' exam system, Italians do not have one official graduation date for everyone. Each student has their own date for passing the last exam, so throughout the fall, you can see students celebrating their graduation on the university streets, their heads traditionally adorned with special green wreaths, surrounded by friends and family.
Italian female students are distinguished by a mop of fluffy hair sticking out in different directions, carelessly gathered on the crown, and glasses with clear lenses. In clothing, Bologna youth prefer unisex: sneakers, skinny jeans, backpacks. This year, long khaki jackets were especially popular.
Read the continuation of the article:
BOLOGNA: CITY OF CAPPUCCINO
Maria MOGILYASTAYA,
Bologna, Italy.