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Exchange students @unibo: finding your way

Guidance and welcome sessions, useful information for exchange students to choose learning activities to carry out at the University of Bologna.

Course Units

As an exchange student, you can choose course units from different Degree Programmes.

Look up in the course unit catalogue and use the filters to select the Area, Campus, Type and Language.

The catalogue for the following academic year is published online in June.

When choosing the course units you must pay attention to:

  • the rules and constraints of your exchange programme: for instance, exchange students within the Erasmus+ programme can choose course units of the subject area of the exchange programme in which they were selected and must have a Learning Agreement consistent with it;

  • the number of places available: some programmes have a limited number of places;

  • the excluded subject areas: some non-Erasmus+ mobility agreements do not allow the choice of course units in some subject areas. When choosing your destination check the excluded subject areas at your university;

  • the Campus: check the Campus you have been assigned to and choose the course units delivered at your Campus;

  • the level of teaching: except for some exclusions, you can choose course units from First cycle (L, undergraduate) and Second cycle (LM, graduate) programmes, but you must carefully assess whether your own general knowledge is suitable for the level of the course unit you wish to attend.

If you are interested in Transferable skills, find out the rules and procedures for admissions.

Always contact the International mobility offices to check the actual availability of the course units you have chosen. If you don't, even if you have attended lectures, you may not be allowed to take the exam and gain credits.

Please remember that you must agree on your choices with your university, as it will have to recognise the credits you obtain at the University of Bologna.

You cannot sit the final examination for graduation at the University of Bologna.

Teaching calendar and course timetable

There is no single date for starting the courses. Each Degree Programme has its own course and exam timetable. Lectures generally begin in September or shortly afterwards, and may be annual, six monthly or divided into several sessions. The course timetables are set yearly, just before the start of the programmes and they are published in the course units pages starting from July.

Credits

One Italian credit (CFU, Credito Formativo Universitario) equals one ECTS credit. Credits are obtained exclusively on passing an exam or internship.

Guidance and welcome sessions, information about teaching

The international mobility and Campuses’ International relations offices support exchange students for academic issues, organize guidance and welcome events and provide informative material to help exchange students in their choices regarding teaching. 

Bologna Campus

Exchange students on Bologna Campus can participate in welcome sessions to learn more about the procedures to be followed and the services offered by the University of Bologna.

Sessions take place online on Microsoft Teams in English. Registration is not required.

Calendar

Information about teaching

  • Engineering and Architecture 
    Information is available on each degree programme website: Admission, Guidance section > Incoming Exchange Students
  • Humanities
    Welcome day: 12 September 2025, at 11:00 online via Teams
    Involved students will receive an invitation via email
  • Languages and literatures
    Exchange students@LILEC
    Students are invited to choose at least one course unit from the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures. When looking up the course unit catalogue, please select the Area: “Languages, and Literatures, Interpreting and Translation” and “Bologna” Campus, then choose at least one course unit in this field of study.

  • Medicine and Surgery (in Italian)
    Exchange students @Medicina e Chirurgia
    Welcome meeting: 24 September 2025, at 10:00
    Via Ercolani, Bologna
    Aula Maestri, pavillion 23, second floor, Ospedale Sant’Orsola

  • Medicine and Surgery (in English)
    Exchange students @Medicine and Surgery
    Welcome meeting: 24 September 2025, at 10:00
    Via Ercolani, Bologna
    Aula Maestri, pavillion 23, second floor, Ospedale Sant’Orsola

  • Political Sciences
    Welcome day: 16 September 2025, at 9:00
    Strada Maggiore 45, Bologna
    Aula Seminari SDE, Palazzo Hercolani
    The meeting will be also available online
    Information, that is the same for all incoming exchange students, is available on each degree programme website, for example Political, Social and International Science

    Furthermore, incoming exchange students are not permitted to:
    choose labs, seminars, internships, workshops, or the preparation for the final examination;
    choose course units from European Studies (BAES) multiple-degree programme;
    choose mandatory course units from (for Unibo students) from International Relations second cycle degree programme (course units codes: 77976, B5574, B0136, 87152, 74976, 85066, B5582, 85720, 91194, 25751, 91192, 88069).

  • Sciences
    Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences
    Exchange students @BIGeA
    Mathematics
    Exchange students @MAT 
    Scienze (Navile: CHIM, CHIMIND, Fabit)
    Welcome meeting: 22 September 2025 at 9:00
    Via Irnerio 48, Bologna
    The meeting will also be available online (connection to be defined).
    Incoming exchange students are not permitted to choose course units from Chemical Innovation and Regulation (CHIR) second cycle degree programme.

Cesena Campus

Exchange students @Architecture (in Italian)

Rimini Campus

Incoming students info sheet [.pdf 631 KB]

Incoming exchange students are not permitted to choose labs from the Advanced Cosmetic Sciences degree programme.

The following may also be subject to restrictions:

course units from Service Management second cycle degree programme;

Destination Marketing and Management and the Laboratory in Tourism Management from Tourism Economics and Management second cycle degree programme.

Welcome day: 12 September 2025

Location and times: to be defined

Safety in study areas and training courses

Before attending the facilities of the University of Bologna it is important to read the information relating to risks, correct behavior and emergency management in the university’s main places of study, work and research (in Italian).

Furthermore, if during your mobility period at the University of Bologna you attend laboratories (even only IT laboratories), workshops, operating theatres, experimental fields, archaeological digs, geological fieldwork, and any other workplace with specific risks for study and research purposes, you will have to take specific safety courses (modules 1 and 2, and modules 3 and 4 where necessary).

Modules 1 and 2 are delivered via e-learning (also in English).

You can attend the courses even before your arrival at the University of Bologna. To access the courses, you have to use your @studio.unibo.it credentials.

Consult the section "Teaching methods" in the course unit pages for detailed information, where available, on the safety training required to attend lectures.

For information on modules 3 and 4 you may also:

  • Check whether your study plan at the University of Bologna includes laboratory activities and the degree programme to which these activities belong.
  • Check the relevant degree programme site: in the studying section, search for teaching activities and "Safety course" (or similar indications), to find out if you have to attend the safety courses, the class schedule, how to register, and the offices to contact if you need clarification.

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