Year abroad
At Warwick, we view the year abroad as an important and integral part of your degree programme, one which is both personally and academically enriching, and is very highly valued by employers for the specific skills that it brings with it.
One of the most distinctive features of the year abroad at Warwick is that, unlike other Italian Departments in the United Kingdom, nearly all our students study at an Italian University in their second year.* Our students go to Italy at this stage because of our strong belief that they should be immersed as soon as possible in both the language and the culture they have chosen for higher study. As a result of this early exposure, our students attain more rapidly a higher level of ability in the Italian language, develop greater confidence, and are generally better prepared for the final two years of study (the years which count directly towards the final degree result).
We also differ from many other Italian Departments in the country in that we guarantee that all eligible students will be allowed to take up places in Italian universities through the ERASMUS Exchange Programme. There are several key advantages to studying in Italy under this arrangement: at present, our students are exempted from paying UK tuition fees during their year abroad; they receive a small grant from the European Union; and they have access to pastoral support in the host institution and may receive some help in finding accommodation from the Italian University ERASMUS/International Office.
You are able to choose from a wide variety of Italian universities - currently Siena (both in Siena itself and Arezzo), Bologna (in Bologna and Forlì), Pescara, Turin, Genoa, Pisa, Urbino, Verona, Cagliari, Salerno, Pavia (through our Department of Politics and International Studies), Naples (Istituto Universitario Orientale), Catania (in Catania and Ragusa), Rome (La Sapienza), Verona, Messina, Milan (Statale) and Trieste - where you will follow courses on a wide range of subjects provided by the Italian universities for their own students. Throughout the year abroad, you keep in close contact with your tutors in Italian at Warwick who continue to monitor your academic progress. During the Easter Vacation of the second year members of Warwick Italian academic staff and all our students resident in Italy meet for short stay in Venice so that preparation can begin for the third year of study. Travel to, and residence in, Venice is currently funded by the University of Warwick. Students of the Department can access a detailed Year abroad handbook.
*There are a few exceptions to this rule: details are available here.
