Important study experiences abroad and a territory with a rich productive and entrepreneurial fabric: these are certainly two of the main secrets that allow graduates of theUniversity of Bergamo to find a suitable job placement. As demonstrated by recent Almalaurea data, according to which the employment rate one year after graduation for students from Bergamo is 81%, which rises to 91% after 5 years, values above the national average.
University of Bergamo, international educational offer
These considerations are confirmed by the vice-rector for internationalization of the University of Bergamo, Flaminia Nicora:
“One of the goals of our university is to internationalize the educational offering, to offer our students an international context both for the students and for the “visiting professors” who come to teach in our courses. We believe this is a profitable way to prepare students to enter the world of work, which requires a global vision. A vision consistent with the productive and entrepreneurial fabric of our territory, which is very projected towards an international dimension”.
Professor Nicora specifies:
“This means offering students the chance to be international at home, through foreign professors, and to move abroad. In this regard, there are many opportunities: we have around 300 international agreements to spend semesters studying or doing internships abroad, but it is also possible to take advantage of short mobility with other universities, both European and otherwise: we go from Asia – with China, Japan, South Korea and India – to America, North and South – so the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Chile – up to Australia. And Africa is not missing either, because we have some agreements with Mediterranean countries and Ethiopia. The forms of short mobility take place, for example, through summer schools – both at our offices and at our foreign partner universities – and short periods as an alternative to the classic Erasmus semester. There are also mobility for research and for the degree thesis”.
Experience abroad, a successful choice
All these opportunities are always supported by scholarships, both Erasmus ones on the one hand but also through direct support from the University of Bergamo where European funding is not present or sufficient. Nicora then underlines:
“The presence of 15 double degree courses, which allow students to obtain a degree from us and one from another partner university, not only European, through student mobility during their studies”.
Obviously the interest from the students is very high:
“This year – says the vice-rector – about 550 students will leave for an Erasmus semester and another 65 will go to non-European locations. The importance of these training opportunities has been understood, both from an academic and linguistic point of view and from a human and professional one. And also the many foreign students who come to us are a great opportunity for internationalization for our students”.
