The most important and noticable differences between studying at AUR and studying in a standard Italian university can be summed up in three words
- Choice
- Flexibility
- Preparedness
AUR, in the tradition of liberal arts universities in the States, allows a great deal of flexibility for students to personalize their undergraduate degree programs - selecting individual course elements from across programs. This is an individual and inter-disciplinary approach that enables students to build their degrees with a specific focus on the career paths or post-graduate programs that they wish to follow - for example, we have several students who are combining Archaeology with Film & Digital Media courses as they plan to develop careers in public and broadcast archaeology. Italian universities tend to have a more structured curriculum and a tighter focus on specialization from the moment of enrolment. In comparison, at AUR a student need not finalise their choice of major until the second year, should they so wish, and they can select more than one major (a double major) or a major and double minor - something that is very rare in Italian higher education.
The classroom experience is noticably different too. While Italian universities focus on lectures (and some seminars) as the basis for learning, AUR focuses on classroom discussion, project work and individual research. Students work collaboratively with each other and with their professors to discover and apply knowledge, rather than having knowedge delivered to them from the front of the classroom. This enhances students' ability to think and reason, to communicate and to work in a team - all essential skills for future careers. This focus is reflected in the grading structure at AUR where a student's final grade is based not solely on exams but on all of their work throughout the year - Italian universities tend to rely on comprehensive end-of-year examinations to grade students knowledge.
At AUR we aim to mould students into well-rounded, career-ready, flexible independent and entrepreneurial thinkers. We pride ourseleves on providing the kind of education that will prepare our students for the workplace of the 21st century. This is a workplace that is constantly evolving - graduates from AUR will be equipped with the skills and the confidence to evolve with it.
