The Italian University System

The Italian University System is organized in three cycles:

• Laurea, i.e. a three-year undergraduate first-cycle degree course aimed at providing students with an adequate command of methods and contents in a given discipline;
• Laurea magistrale, i.e. a two-year second-cycle degree course aimed at providing education at an advanced level in specific subject areas;
• Laurea magistrale a ciclo unico, i.e. a five- or six-year single-cycle, second-level degree course providing access to specific professions;
• Dottorato di ricerca, i.e. a third-cycle doctoral research (PhD) programme, lasting no less than three years, aimed at providing students with suitable methodologies for advanced research.

Other educational programmes include:

• Master universitari di primo livello, i.e. second-cycle short specialization programmes that require a first-cycle degree for admission but do not give access to doctoral programmes;
• Master universitari di secondo livello, i.e. third-cycle short specialization programmes that require a second-cycle degree for admission but do not give access to doctoral programmes;
• Corsi di specializzazione i.e. third-cycle residency programmes open to students with a second-cycle degree and designed to provide postgraduates with the knowledge and skills required for the practice of highly qualified professions – typically, in the medical, clinical and surgical specialities.

Entrance test

Students wishing to enrol in the degree courses offered at DiSLL are required to sit an entrance test to confirm that they have the required linguistic knowledge and critical thinking skills. Students who fail to obtain a satisfactory result in the test may still apply for enrolment, but have to meet an Additional Learning Requirement (OFA) through specific remedial courses.

Degree Courses offered at DiSLL

First-cycle degree courses (Bachelor’s Level)

Classical and Italian Studies
The degree course in Classical and Italian Studies aims to provide graduates with solid foundation in the methodology and history of literature through direct study of the most significant authors and texts in the ancient, modern and contemporary civilizations.
There are two different curricula, namely Classical Studies and Italian Studies, focusing on the ancient world and on the medieval, modern and contemporary world respectively.
Educational Offer

Language, Literature and Cultural Communication

This degree course aims to provide graduates with a good command of two foreign languages: students will have the possibility to develop their language and translation skills as well as to improve their ability to express themselves properly both orally and in writing. Students will also develop in-depth knowledge of the culture and literature pertaining to the languages they have chosen and master the main principles and methods for linguistic, philological and literary analysis. Besides core language and literature studies, the course also includes an introduction into the historical, demo-ethno-anthropological, sociological, cultural, economic and legal fields.
Students can choose from the following languages and literatures: Anglo-American, Czech and Slovak, Duch, French, English, German, Hungarian, Modern Greek, Polish, Portuguese and Brazilian, Roumanian, Russian,Serbian and Croatian, Slovenian, Spanish.
Educational Offer

Second-cycle degree courses (Master’s Level)

Modern Philology
The second-cycle degree course in Modern Philology aims to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of Western literary traditions – especially with regard to the Italian language and culture – through direct contact with the country's leading authors and most significant literary works. Close attention will be paid to the historical and social context of the latter, as well as to their cultural and ideological dimension. Focusing on the critical importance of texts, the educational programme will promote forms of interpretation derived from a highly specialised analysis that not only draws on the resources of linguistics, but also relies on the use of metrical, rhetorical and stylistic devices.
Graduates in Modern Philology will have a sound knowledge of literary theory and develop advanced skills in philology; they will also become fully aware of the main issues involved with critical editions and their standard practices, with regard to both medieval, modern, and contemporary works. They will therefore master the techniques required to describe literary texts, to place them in a suitable historical-critical context and to interpret them – in a comparative perspective, as a proper methodological approach would require – with a degree of autonomy. Graduates will also know how to communicate, provide information and discuss issues relating to the disciplines they have studied, whether orally or in writing, in a critical way and with a view to implementing their skills either in teaching or in promoting the dissemination of knowledge in society.
Educational Offer


Modern Philology (bi-national course)
The degree course jointly run by the Universities of Padova and Grenoble Alpes aims to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of European literary traditions, especially with regard to the Italian and French language and culture. Besides focusing on historical and literary phenomena at a supranational level, the course also emphasizes the contact and transfer aspects that were involved in establishing a connection between the two great transalpine cultures mentioned above.
Students will study the expressions, genres, forms and patterns that characterize French and Italian literature through direct contact with the countries’ leading authors and most significant literary works, the main focus being on the texts and their historical context. Thanks to a broad educational offer, students will have the possibility to study not only literary theory and history, but also a wide range of highly specialised disciplines in the fields of linguistics, stylistics and textual criticism. In the study of literature facts, students will be made aware of the modes of dissemination and receipt of literary works and of the techniques underlying textual restoration; they will also explore the issues involved in critical editions and discover the new frontiers of digital philology. By integrating such skills, students will be able to fully understand literary phenomena by combining their analytical description – from a linguistic, stylistic and rhetorical point of view – with their historiographical analysis and critical interpretation.

European and American Languages and Literatures
The Master’s Degree in European and American Languages and Literatures offers an educational project eminently focused on the study of two foreign languages and cultures. Besides training its students for the daily use of the two languages of their choice, enhancing both oral and written skills with professional and cultural specificities, the Course aims at transmitting a deep knowledge of each respective literary tradition, with specific attention for the transmission of competences about the historical and socio-cultural contexts they are framed into, and a special interest for the development of a comparative dialogue between them, meant to serve the purpose of mutual enlightenment and ‘mediation’.
A specific interest is also devoted to the theory and practice of translation (broadly specialized, literary, etc…) and didactics of foreign languages. Students who aspire at gaining a M. D. in European and American Languages and Literatures will, therefore, be asked to prove a high degree of theoretical and practical knowledge of the languages of their choice, as well as an ability to properly manage different techniques for analyzing and describing literary texts, to adequately project them in a historical-critical perspective, and to interpret them with satisfactory autonomy. Also, they will have to prove their capability of critically communicating complex cultural contents in both ‘curricular’ foreign languages, both in spoken and written form.
Educational Offer


Modern Languages for International Communication and Cooperation
The second-cycle degree in Modern Languages for International Communication and Cooperation (LCC) covers five main areas of competence: translation, language, literature and culture, translation technology, special languages, terminology and translation/language service provision. The course aims to provide students with a good command of two European and American languages and cultures along with the knowledge and abilities necessary to understand their cultural, historical, literary, economic, social and political contexts.
Besides their language skills, students improve their critical and research knowledge, while training for the daily, professional use of languages both in the written and oral modes to become language service providers. They receive advanced education in special languages, terminology, translation methodology, proofreading, editing and language/translation technologies. Language education focuses on translation to provide solid theoretical knowledge and practical skills in translating a wide range of texts. Core courses also cover an in-depth study of law, economics and sociology, as well as advanced courses in either linguistics, semiotics or computer science. Students can take advanced supplementary courses on the literatures pertaining to the two languages they have decided to specialise in.
Educational Offer

Linguistics
The second-cycle degree course in Linguistics aims to equip graduates with solid theory and method so that they can reflect on the most universal aspects of language and provide in-depth descriptions of diverse language systems from both a synchronic and diachronic point of view. Graduates in Linguistics will have the possibility to further explore the various techniques for linguistic analysis and to gain a perspective that combines a formal approach with a detailed description of facts. The educational offer covers a wide range of foundation courses in phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, as well as applied courses in dialectology, computational linguistics, historical linguistics and language acquisition, thus giving students a broad overview of the most significant disciplines pertaining to linguistic research. In addition, the degree course also allows students to customize their pathway so that it is tailored to their own interests in any areas in the field of linguistics. Students will also develop skills in such disciplines as neuropsychology, logic, philosophy of language as well as in statistics. By the end of the course, graduates will also be have acquired the credits needed to access courses designed for prospective teachers.
Educational Offer

Communication Strategies
This degree course aims to provide solid theoretical, methodological and practical skills in communication. The education of a graduate in Strategies in Communication envisages the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and practical competencies in human and socio-economic sciences as well as in legal, historical-political and philosophical subjects. The programme provides students with a common basis to analyse communication processes and with tools to design communication products. In addition to this professional knowledge, other kinds of knowledge will be acquired through the teaching of related and supplementary subjects chosen by the student in the linguistic, economic, social and communication fields.
Educational offer


The Doctoral programme