This week marked the official end of my semester here at the University of Bologna. I still have a few last things to tie up here before I leave, not to mention some exciting travelling/skiing that just must be attended to, but my university career here is over.
My lectures ended in December, but I returned to Bologna to do my exams, something which I thought would be a relatively straightforward experience. And so, after a hurried week of cramming, praying that my reading across the semester would stand me in good stead, I headed to my first exam on Monday.
Most exams at the University of Bologna, and I believe Italy as a whole, are oral exams, which was already a strange concept to me. Of course I’ve done oral exams before, but only to test my abilities in speaking languages; they are not something UK universities really use for getting a sense of how much you know about a given subject. But it actually makes quite a lot of sense to me now, as unlike with a written exam, the professor is able to probe your knowledge and push certain parts of your argument. It’s also quite a good paper-saving strategy, and it was nice not to have to bring my usual half a dozen biros- there’s always that chance that 5 will run out of ink. You never know.
Given that I couldn’t attend the normal date for my first exam, the professor arranged a separate one for me. I waited for him outside his office, reading through my colour-coded cue cards (I’ve not changed), when he arrived, and immediately picked one up to have a look. I was already finding this really weird. I wondered whether he was already deciding what mark to award me based on the visual evidence of my revision, and was secretly hoping so as he complimented me on the little quizzes I’d written for myself.
I thought when we entered the office that that would be the end of the cue cards, but as we went in and he started tapping away on his computer I hesitantly asked how the exam was going to work. At this, he picked up one of my cue cards and asked “Tell me about Voltaire’s flair”. It was strangely like an informal chat- almost enjoyable at times, even if I often wondered whether he was really concentrating on what I was saying as he logged onto the internal system to record my exam. In the end it went brilliantly and I beamed as I walked home, a new advocate for the oral exam system, as well as more than a little smug that I had got away with doing so little revision.
But my, how my opinions changed when I attended my second exam, for which I was able to make the published date. The entire class of around 50 people had to turn up at 9:30am to attend the ‘appello’, where we were registered to be taking the exam that day. Then, we all had to wait. I was advised to return at 2pm, which I did, but subsequently had to sit for another 4 hours waiting to be called in to take the exam.
This might not sound that bad; it’s only one day, after all. And yet, one day of sitting with a group of other stressed out students, constantly reading over your notes “one last time” in case you get called in, losing energy by the second, and it’s a wonder anyone is actually able to say anything coherent. By the time I got to do my exam, at 6:30pm, I was tired, bored, hungry and had a headache. I wasn’t really in the mood.
I asked the Italian students around me if this was normal, and they assured me it was. I asked them why they didn’t all just get their own specific time to turn up, and they said it was because the professors didn’t trust them to be on time. I asked them if they minded this system, and they said of course they did, but nobody was willing to change it.
The whole thing seemed symptomatic of the relationship between Italy and its youths as a whole. Perhaps it sounds dramatic, but sitting with those students, waiting around for 8 hours for the convenience of their professors, even being told we weren’t allowed to sit on the floor whilst we waited, I got the sense that they were being badly undervalued and patronised.
Youth unemployment in Italy is at over 40%, a rate amongst the worst in Europe. Its young people are frustrated, bored and anxious, but they are also bright, ambitious and hopeful. It seems to me that their country is doing them a great disservice by undervaluing their intelligence and their dedication; and if you treat people like lazy idiots for long enough, they give up and start acting like it.
It may seem a grand conclusion to draw from a minor experience, but I think it rings true for many of the people I’ve met here. The university is in desperate need of young, inspiring academics to breathe some life back into its ancient classrooms, and its students need to be given more opportunities to do more outside of those classrooms. I know I have been utterly spoilt with my university experience back home, but I also know that Italy needs to do more for its young people and invest in their futures, or the future of the whole country will soon be in great jeopardy.
Ellie's Year Abroad Blog 