The Program in Ascoli Piceno

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Arrival in Venice or Rome - depending on the semester

You will be notified which city to arrive in. Directions will be provided for you to follow when you arrive at the appropriate airport.

Orientation

Your first week in Ascoli Piceno will be filled with activities designed to help you get acquainted with each other and feel comfortable in your new surroundings. These will include a walking tour of Ascoli Piceno; selection of apartments and roommates; group meetings to give you instructions on registering for your permesso di soggiorno; getting acquainted with UNH-in-Italy academic procedures; written and oral language placement examinations; and other practical information.

UNH-In-Italy Program Center

The UNH-in-Italy Program Center is located in the historical center of Ascoli Piceno, abut a ten-minute walk from Piazza del Popolo (the main square).

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

Here the Director holds office hours, conducts academic advising and meets with students individually to answer questions and help resolve problems. The Program Coordinator, who assists you with housing issues, provides information about banking, telephones, insurance, permessi di soggiorno, and assists with other student needs, keeps regular office hours here. Students receive their mail at the program office as well as notices of Program activities, deadlines, and cultural opportunities in the area.

The majority of Program courses are held in the Center, and it houses a modest collection of reference texts in English and Italian for background reading and classes. Alert the Director of additional texts, guide books, etc. that could be acquired for common use. The Program Center is equipped with a fax machine, which is available for official university communication and emergency use only. Similarly, the office photocopier, DVD player, and projector are reserved for academic use.

Computers and Internet Access

The Program Center has a computer lab with internet for student academic use. It is also equipped with free wireless service which allows you to use your own laptop to connect to the internet. Before obtaining internet access a software certification must be installed on your laptop by the technician at the UNH-in-Italy Center. A printer is available though individuals must purchase a printing card.

Internet is available in the apartments and elsewhere with the purchase of a monthly internet card.

The Academic Program

Your visa from the Italian government is very precise about why you are in Italy: motivi di STUDIO: to study. The principal goal of the UNH-in-Italy Program is to provide you with an academic experience that facilitates your integration into Italian culture.

Academic Advising

The Resident Director has responsibility for all academic matters. Check carefully with academic advisors on your home campus prior to departure to determine which courses or types of courses will meet your degree requirements. The Resident Director cannot be expected to be familiar with the academic requirements of different institutions, so you are responsible for knowing as much as possible about your own degree requirements. You are also responsible for following your home institutions add/drop deadlines and verifying that you are enrolled in the correct courses.

Course Load

Students are required to take a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 5 courses per semester. All students must enroll in an intensive language course.

Grading Policies

Following the end of the semester, the Resident Director sends all grade reports and course titles to the University of New Hampshire, which in turn forwards them to your home institutions, each of which has its own system for reporting program courses and grades on its transcripts.

Many students used to the American system of grade bartering are surprised to discover that such a system not only does not exist in Italy, but that Italian university professors find the practice somewhere between amusing and insulting. Part of the lesson of studying away is to learn also the different ways things are done in other cultures. You will quickly learn that you must assure the positive evaluation you expect of your work through the convincing quality of your performance before the assignment of the final grade.

Grading Scale for UNH-in-Italy Students: Italian universities use a grading scale of 1 to 30. UNH-in-Italy applies the following scale of equivalencies:
Italian System/Percentage System/Letter Grade
29-30/94-100/A
28/90-93/A-
27/88-89/B+
26/84-87/B
25/80-83/B-
24/78-79/C+
23/74-77/C
22/70-73/C-
21/68-69/D+
20/64-67/D
18-19/60-63/D-
01-17/00-59/F

Incompletes

All coursework must be completed and submitted by the end of the term and prior to your departure. No incomplete grades are permitted for overseas courses. Unfinished course work will result in a grade of F for the course. Only documented illness is considered a legitimate excuse for missing a final examination.

UNH-In-Italy Program Courses

The UNH-in-Italy offers a number of special courses for its students. These courses are taught in both Italian and English by university faculty. For a list of courses being offered in the current and upcoming academic year, please see section "Dates and courses".

GRE

If you intend to take the Graduate Record Exam in Italy, make inquiries at the Bologna campus of Johns Hopkins University soon after your arrival. The exams are administered at the Hopkins Center, but applications must be completed and mailed well in advance.