Foreign Languages and Literature

The Programme develops the theory and practice of foreign languages in close connection with the literary, historical, artistic and cultural context, producing 1st cycle graduates with solid theoretical and practical skills in the languages, literature and artistic and cultural history of foreign linguistic and geographical areas, both in and beyond Europe. Students learn competencies in three correlated areas: linguistics, literature and philology, and history, art and culture.

The competences acquired in the three-year programme can be used in a wide range of national and international technical and business sectors. The aforementioned knowledge and understanding in the three learning areas are acquired through participation in lectures and seminars, guided self-study and personal study required in the core course units running in particular in the field of philology, glottology, linguistics and literature as well as studies in core and elective course units in historical, geographical and cultural fields which offer the historical and social contextualisation of such knowledge. The described learning outcomes are assessed in written and/or oral exams. Foreign languages are learned particularly during specific language laboratory activities at different levels and they are assessed in oral and written exams and tests.

Admission requirements

Admission to the degree programme is subject to the possession of a five-year secondary school diploma or equivalent suitable qualification obtained abroad, or a four-year secondary school diploma and diploma for the relative supplementary year, or, where no longer active, admitted students will be assigned additional learning requirements.

The degree programme has restricted access, according to the available resources. The number of places and selection methods are published annually in the relative call for applications published annually on the School website.

Students passing the entrance exam and wishing to include the English language in their study plan must demonstrate skills to level B1 of the European Reference Framework, tested using the Oxford Online Placement Test (OOPT), in the methods and terms published annually on the School website. The test will also be used to assign students with at least level B1 to Language Exercise groups most suited to their specific level.

Compliance with the level B1 requirement may also be certified by presenting the teaching staff of the course unit in English Language and Linguistics 1 any of the certificates listed below, issued no earlier than 24 months previously:

EXAM - Score

Cambridge ESOL: PET with Merit

IELTS: 5

TOEFL iBT: 65

TRINITY (only ISE - Integrated Skills Exam): ISE (II)

For students selecting English as their first or second language, the OOPT may be sat once only. Students not obtaining positive results in the first year of the programme but who intend to choose English as their third language may repeat the OOPT at the start of the year for which they wish to include English in their study plan, and also in this case must obtain a score equivalent to level B1.

The above rules are not retroactive; students enrolled in past years shall continue to comply with the rules in force in the academic year of registration concerning the choice of English as a third language.

The Degree Programme website annually publishes a short list of manuals which can be used to practice for the OOPT test methods.

Students must also be able to understand, reprocess and summarise texts in the Italian language. This knowledge will be assessed during the entrance exam. The Degree Programme Board sets a minimum passing grade annually, which is published in the admissions notice.

Students admitted to the programme with a score of less than that established annually will be assigned additional learning requirements (OFA).

Students assigned OFA must sit a course unit on Italian language structures, with a written exam which must be passed to complete the OFA.

Students assigned OFA may enrol in the second year of the programme provided they pass the OFA exam by the end of March of the academic year following their enrolment in the first year. Students who, by the end of March of the academic year following their enrolment in the first year, have sat all the exams laid down in their study plan for the first year (excluding any elective exams) will not have to sit the OFA exam. Students not having passed the exam or sat all the exams as stated above within the set terms shall be required to enrol in the first year as repeating students.

The Degree Programme Board assesses the possibility of exempting students from the assessment of basic knowledge, for the purposes of assigning additional learning requirements (OFA) in the following cases:

- withdrawal from studies,

- loss of student status,

- application to opt out of previous degree programme systems,

- possession of an academic qualification obtained from or learning activities carried out in foreign universities,

– transfer from another degree programme of the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna,

- transfer from another university.

The assessment is based on the criteria set annually by the Degree Programme Board and published on the School website.

These criteria comply with the principles of coherence with the knowledge and skills required for admission to the programme and non-obsolescence of the professional knowledge and competences acquired.