50 students coming from 20 different countries are enrolled in the Foundation Course edition 2020/2021 at the University of Pisa. It is one of a few Italian Programmes allowing non-EU students to fulfil the minimum learning requirements the Italian Law lays down for university enrollment. Due to the Covid-19 emergency, the first part of the Course will be provided online and the students will attend classes from many different countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Peru, Russia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Ecuador, Thailand, Rwanda, Belorussia, Azerbaijan, Kirgizstan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Botswana, Ukraine.
A “Virtual Welcome Day” opened online the new edition of the Foundation Course with the participation of all the students and coordinators of the University of Pisa: Prof Silvia Bruti, director of the University Language Centre, Prof Arturo Marzano, coordinator of the Foundation Course Humanities, Prof Marco Polini, coordinator of the Foundation Course Science, Paola Cappellini, Head of the International Cooperation Unit, Adio Terranova and Arianna Biancani as Logistic Coordinators.
Despite the difficulties and the international uncertainty due to the pandemic emergency, the University of Pisa has reached a great result with 50 enrolled students, 20 more than last year: “the current situation has had in the last months and still has severe consequences even on students mobility, precluding in - presence class attendance to the many students concerned – states the Vice Rector for International Cooperation and Relations, Prof Francesco Marcelloni, - the online opening of the Foundation Course represents the commitment of the University of Pisa to contrast the epidemic emergency and all the difficulties related with the Visa application. The University of Pisa undertakes to guarantee the continuity of such an important international programme and reassure the students and their families allowing the online attendance until the end of the programme in the event that in-presence activities are not feasible. Our aim is obviously to start in-presence activities as soon as the Covid emergency will give the opportunity, hopefully at the beginning of the new year.
The Foundation course is a one-year programme including two different courses (Humanities e Science) aiming at personal skills implementation and learning requirements fulfillment of international students applying for enrollment at Italian Universities. For both courses, an Italian Language course is provided to achieve the B2 level, which is mandatory to access any Degree Programme in Italian language.
For the assessment of their background competences, all students will attend the online Italian admission test on 9 September 2020; in addition, the students of the Science course will also attend a math test in the following days. Online classes will start on 16 September 2020.