Orientation
Ever since its creation, the Department of Sociology and Social Research has worked hard to offer support to students in the form of university orientation and guidance activities.
These activities are designed to:
- welcome students when they begin Bachelor’s, Master’s and Postgraduate Programmes, offering them the information they need to learn about the educational/teaching programme and organisational structure of the Courses they are enrolled on;
- accompany students throughout their studies with standard orientation activities offered by members of the Committee and through the activities of the Orientation Services Network and tutoring;
- support students when they complete Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree programmes, offering them the information and advice they need to enter the world of work successfully.
Over the years, there has been a significant increase in the number of participants in orientation activities, both in terms of informative and training events and Orientation Services. The planning and delivery of orientation activities in collaboration with other Department and University services around training and entering the world of work has resulted in satisfying results in terms of a drop in the number of drop-outs.
These activities are promoted and delivered by the Department Orientation Committee in collaboration with the University Orientation Committee and the Orientation Services Network. When planning and delivering activities, the Committee collaborates with the Education Area, the Job Placement Office and the Internship Office. Within the Department, the Orientation Committee carries out its activities in collaboration with the Internationalisation Committee and the Joint Committee.
The Committee Coordinator is Professor Barbara Bracco and the other members are Dr. Gianluca Argentin (Vice Coordinator) and Professors Ida Castiglioni and Emanuela Sala.
The Department organises four events per year focusing on incoming orientation for secondary school leavers, two of which take place as part of University Open Days. The aim of these is to set out the way the University and the Department are organised and run, to present the objectives and educational programmes of the four Bachelor’s Degree courses, to respond to questions from students regarding their expectations and aspirations and to initiate a dialogue around their reasons behind their choice of university education.
At the end of the second orientation event of the year, in April, the Department organises the “Spring at Bicocca” event, which allows secondary school leavers to follow a university lecture on a topic of interest to them and gives them the chance to interact with lecturers around the content of the lecture and the methods of teaching.
We provide services and activities designed to offer support to students through their studies, particularly in times when they are going through difficult or particularly testing situations (with the support of the Orientation Services Network).
The tutoring service, which is reserved for freshers on Bachelor’s Degree Courses, is provided by senior students. The initiative aims to use peer relationships to allow freshers to reflect on issues that may arise during their first year of studying in an informed manner and give them the tools to overcome these problems. Tutoring is supervised by the Undergraduate Degree Course Coordinators and by the University Orientation Network’s Advice Service. Every tutor is allocated a group of students with which to interact via email or individual meetings.
Young graduates, PhD Students, Tenured Assistant Professors and Research Fellows may serve as subject tutors, who aim to help students on Undergraduate Degree Courses to deal with the difficulties involved in preparing for exams and understanding individual subjects. Tutors may offer opportunities for individual study, explanation and reflection and critical analysis looking at the subjects being assessed.
We provide individual and collective orientation activities (in person and telematically) in order to encourage students to reflect on their educational achievements and help them enter the world of work.
In addition to focusing on the key decision-making moments during the students’ university career (choice of exams, dissertation, Master’s Degree, traineeship, internships both before and after graduation), the University also organises opportunities for students to meet and interact with industry professionals (often Bicocca graduates who are interested in sharing their experiences in the world of work), giving them a chance to learn about different avenues and reflect on their future prospects. These sessions allow students to engage in a process of self-orientation and start to form an educational/work pathway based on informed planning.
We provide services and assistance to help students enter the world of work and with regards to managing Traineeship Agreements and Internship/Traineeship Projects.
Every year, the University Orientation Committee organises an orientation event dedicated specifically to parents and designed to encourage them to reflect on how they can help their children in making decisions regarding their university careers.
The session aims to tackle the growing phenomenon of parents taking part in Orientation sessions in place of their children and thus avoid the predictably negative outcomes of such behaviour.