FACULTY-LED PROGRAMS · PROGRAM TYPES

Faculty-led program types - six formats, eight disciplines, a typical day.

Whether you want to send a summer cohort, a full semester or an annual rotation, our Partner Desk can build the right program shape around your faculty member's academic vision. Below: the program types we deliver most often, the disciplines we have hosted and an illustrative example of a typical day.

Program types we have delivered, or can deliver

2-4 week summer program. Intensive programs taught by the faculty member around a single discipline: Italian civilisation, art history, architecture, design, food studies, contemporary politics, fashion, music. Cohort accommodation on or near campus; full cultural program included. Semester abroad with an Italian language component. A full 12-16 week semester in which your faculty member teaches the main disciplinary course and we deliver parallel Italian language instruction at the appropriate CEFR level. Optional integration with our long-term study-visa documentation framework. Pre-semester language intensive + main program. Students arrive 2-4 weeks before the main faculty-led semester for an intensive Italian course, then the discipline-specific program begins. This is the most common model for "Italian + discipline" cohorts aiming for a B1/B2 level by mid-semester. Custom short courses (1-2 weeks). Executive-education cohorts, short courses for MBA groups, professional-development groups, alumni programs. Compressed, high-density academic content, with a calendar built to measure around the home institution's schedule. Full academic year. For institutions that want a continuous study-abroad presence in Italy: an annual program with cohort rotation between the autumn and spring semesters, with optional summer continuity. Hybrid and rotation models. Cohorts that move between two or more of our four cities during a single program, for example Florence (heritage) + Milan (contemporary Italy), or that combine on-site weeks with online preparation before departure.

Disciplines we have hosted, or can host

Our four campuses, together with our network of academic and cultural partners, support a broad range of disciplinary areas. Below: the disciplines we have worked with most often, paired with the campus whose city offers the strongest on-the-ground environment. Other disciplines are welcome on request: we have delivered programs ranging from environmental policy to opera studies.

Humanities and cultural studies. Italian civilisation · art history · architecture · Renaissance studies · museology · classical and medieval studies · religious studies · history of science · heritage conservation. Primary hub: Florence · also Mantua. Languages and linguistics. Italian language (A1 → C2) · sociolinguistics · translation and interpreting · L2 teaching methodology · comparative literature · Italian cinema studies. All four campuses; primary hubs: Florence and Milan. Business, management and finance. International business · management · entrepreneurship · finance · marketing · luxury and fashion management · sustainability strategy · Italian economic history. Primary hub: Milan. Design, fashion and communication. Fashion design · industrial and product design · graphic design · advertising · media studies · digital communication · visual culture. Primary hubs: Milan and Turin. Food, agriculture and territory. Italian food studies · Slow Food · wine studies and sommellerie · food anthropology · sustainable agriculture · regional terroirs · history of cuisine. Primary hub: Turin · also Mantua. Social sciences and contemporary Italy. Political science · contemporary Italian politics · sociology · migration studies · European studies · public policy · gender studies · urban studies. Primary hubs: Milan and Turin. Arts, music and performance. Music history and opera studies · performance studies · theatre · creative writing · contemporary art (the gallery scene, Castello di Rivoli, Fondazione Sandretto). All four campuses, depending on disciplinary focus. Other / interdisciplinary. Visits to engineering sites · automotive history · environmental policy · comparison of healthcare systems · gerontology · historic-conservation architecture · service learning and community engagement. Defined for each program.

Sample weekly schedule - a typical day

Illustrative schedule for a semester-long faculty-led program with an Italian language component, delivered at one of our campuses. The visiting faculty member teaches the discipline-specific course; our team delivers the Italian language module and the cultural program that revolves around it.

Monday - Friday morning. 09:30 - 11:00 · Course taught by the faculty member (visiting faculty member, classroom 1)
11:00 - 11:15 · Coffee break (Unicafè or campus café)
11:15 - 12:45 · Italian language lesson (group by CEFR level, classroom 2) Afternoons (vary by day). Mon and Wed: independent study, access to study rooms, faculty office hours
Tue: guest lecture or curatorial visit (every 2 weeks)
Thu: language laboratory / conversation-partner session
Fri: outing or field visit (scheduled according to the syllabus) Evenings (optional). Weekly: aperitivo or community-engagement session
Fortnightly: cultural-program event (cinema, theatre, music)
Monthly: regional dinner / food and wine evening Weekend. Saturday: optional day trip (for example Siena, Verona, Cinque Terre, Bologna), scheduled roughly every other weekend
Sunday: free for individual travel and rest. Once a semester, a long-weekend trip at mid-program (3 nights, for example Rome or the Amalfi Coast).

This is an illustrative schedule. The final program calendar is co-designed with the visiting faculty member during the scoping phase, to align with the home institution's credit-hour requirements and the discipline-specific learning outcomes.