Bocconi a Crossroads of International Exchange
The first exchanges at Bocconi came about more than 30 years ago in 1974, with agreements with New York University and ESSEC, which allowed a handful of students to study abroad. Today Bocconi is an international exchange hub with agreements with 230 partner schools all over the world and 1,336 outgoing students and 1,303 incoming students this year.
The check-in period on campus has ended recently for the 541 students from all over the world who will spend the semester here. They are Bachelor and Graduate students, 43% of whom are from Europe, 32% from North America, 11% from Asia, 5% from Latin America and 9% from Africa, the Middle East and Oceania. It is a truly global crowd that has been welcomed with a series of activities (guided tours of the campus and the city, orientation meetings, intensive Italian courses, welcome cocktails and others). Following these activities, an office dedicated to these students will be available during their stay: the International Student Desk, part of the International Relations service.
"Student interest in this experience is constantly growing in addition to the slots that we offer for incoming and outgoing students," explains Stefano Caselli, Vice Rector for International Affairs. "Hosting students is important for promoting Bocconi abroad and especially for increasing our students' networks, who can then improve their awareness and interactions and have opportunities for debate here at Bocconi as well."
This growing interest is proven by numbers. There were 1,303 incoming students this year, 20% more compared to five years ago. And next year, the number of partner schools will increase from 230 to 254 and slots available for outgoing students will increase to 1,442, compared to 1,238 four years ago.
"I'll be taking mostly classes in finance. Bocconi has an excellent reputation in this field and I want to take this opportunity – by also taking courses that are not available in Moscow such as Business Relations," says Ivan Mozharov, who got to Bocconi a few days ago from the New Economic School in Moscow. "My first impression has been excellent. The environment is very divers and open and the university is very well organized. This makes our integration much easier."
Many students like Ivan, including incoming students and outgoing Bocconi students departing to 6 continents, use the exchange program to complete and refine their studies in a specific way.
"The reasons behind exchanges have changed in recent years. It is no longer a simple experience abroad to build your résumé or learn a language, but rather it is viewed as an essential element of the university experience," explain Caselli. "Students today are in fact very selective when seeking out excellent schools that offer tracks in line with their studies."
"It's an exciting opportunity that allows you to catapult into a situation that is completely different," says Simone Batticani. He is in his second year of the Master of Science in Law and Business Administration, and was on exchange at the Universidade de São Paulo from August to December. "I studied subjects with a different perspective, experiencing new teaching methods, and I also challenged myself by taking exams in Portuguese. And then there is also the fun side and, thanks to the extended duration of the exchange, the opportunity to get to know and visit new places in-depth."