Italian Colleges are numerous and offer a vast range of courses . Whether undergraduate or postgraduate, arts, sciences and commercial studies all are taught with due importance in Italian colleges. The undergraduate (Laurea) studies take about three years to complete while post-graduation (Laures Specialistica) takes two, in Italian colleges. However entry to such courses in Italian colleges require certain preparatory courses in Italian institutions called the " Liceo ", the " Istituto Tecnico " and the " Istituto Professionale ".
All types of secondary school that holds out 4 or 5 years allows access to the ultimate exam , known as Esame di Stato conclusivo del corso di studio di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore or Esame di Maturità . This examination takes place every year in June and July and grants access to any faculty at any University.
The different kinds of Liceo are :
" Liceo Classico ", which has Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian, History and Philosophy as its most important subjects.
" Liceo Scientifico ", where the stress is more on scientific and mathematical subjects, such as geometry, calculus, chemistry or physics - although Latin, Philosophy and literature are also taught in depth. Together with the Liceo Classico is the most prestigious in Italy.
" Liceo Linguistico " puts emphasis on learning languages,usually English, French, Spanish and German - although recently Russian has been introduced as well.
" Liceo Artistico ", which is features arts teaching - in both theoretical (ie. History of the arts) and practical (ie. drawing sessions) sense.
Italian ITIS (Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale, i.e. National Technical/Industrial Institute) and ITC (Istituto Tecnico Commerciale i.e. Technical/Commercial Institute) are the " Istituto Tecnico " (Technical Institute), which is more inclined toward practical subjects, such as aeronautics, business administration, computer science and chemistry.
The " Istituto Professionale " offers more practical subjects, enabling the students to start looking for a job as soon as they have finished their studies and is even more specialized in terms of vocational course offerings than the "Istituto Tecnico."
"Liceo" education is generally considered necessary for University preparation and a typical Italian student is 19 when he or she enters University.
Students can take up a variety of subjects whether fine arts, liberal arts, natural and biological sciences, medicine, engineering, and law . In Italian colleges they focus on one subject throughout their degree. Sometimes a university can offer different undergraduate courses, each working in a different sector of the same subject. For example, in Psychology some courses are more engaged toward Cognitive Psychology, others more toward Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology or some other branch.
A typical year in an Italian university is bi-semesterial. Courses are for a semester and examinations are held at the beginning of the academic year (September) , the middle of the year (mid January to the end of February) and at the end of the year (mid May to mid July) . Grades are declared on a scale from 1 to 30, with 18 being the minimum pass grade in an examination.
At the end of each "tier" (Laurea and Laures Specialistica) there is a final exam , often needing the submission of a thesis either based on original experimental work by the student , or on a review of academic literature. The final grade is determined by means of a weighted mean of the grades of the single courses, changed to a scale running from 1 to 110. Since the minimum grade to pass an individual examination is 18, the minimum overall grade is 66 plus some points for the dissertation (ranging to 3-4 to 7-8). If the overall score ( mean of examination grades plus dissertation points) is more than 110 , then a degree cum laude is awarded.
