Conosci HousingAnywhere? È la prima piattaforma "student-to-student", dove domanda e offerta di alloggi si incontrano senza intermediari.

Grazie ad HousingAnywhere/Pisa, gli studenti Unipi in partenza per un'esperienza di formazione all'estero possono cedere il proprio alloggio, per il periodo di assenza, a colleghi stranieri in arrivo a Pisa.

In questo modo:

• gli studenti outgoing hanno la sicurezza di ritrovare la propria stanza al rientro in Italia, senza dover pagare due affitti durante il periodo trascorso all'estero
• la ricerca dell'alloggio diventa per tutti più semplice, più rapida e meno costosa
• il servizio promuove lo scambio interculturale nel caso di appartamenti condivisi con famiglie o studenti del Paese di destinazione.

Usufruire dei servizi della piattaforma è semplice: basta essere iscritti all'università di Pisa e utilizzare la propria e-mail per inserire l'annuncio, le foto e la descrizione della camera. E il gioco è fatto.

1) Increasing attainment levels to provide the graduates and researchers Europe needs

Continuing monitoring and improvement of teaching/learning/assessment on the basis of EHEA quality criteria and Tuning methodology will inform our efforts to keep our degree programmes up to date and up to the highest standards. In our view international mobility, whether Erasmus or analogous, truly does 'change lives and open minds' , bringing a richer understanding not only of one's academic/professional area, but also building citizenship. The expansion of mobility in all academic areas (and not only those where it is now most developed) will have strong and positive impact on attainment levels across the University.

2) Improving the quality and relevance of higher education

Again, quality and relevance can be ensured by continuous checking, up-dating of relevant competences and consultation with stakeholders. Our experience in Tuning and CoRe2 and other centralised Erasmus actions, have produced tools for quality improvement and for building quality culture. We intend to continue to collaborate with other key universities to extend and deepen the work already done. We will use the results of those projects to reformulate the Learning Outcomes of our present programmes, which will increase quality of programmes for mobile and non-mobile students.

3) Strengthening quality through mobility and cross-border co-operation

Most of our policy priorities include reinforcing the mobility of students and staff, especially to the less 'popular' destinations and from the departments that have developed mobility to a lesser degree, and the mobility of knowledge and insight through large-scale cooperative projects. In our view, for the reasons mentioned above, reaching our policy goals will impact on relevance and hence on quality.

4) Making the knowledge triangle work: Linking higher education, research and business for excellence and regional Development

The University of Pisa has an international (world/European); national and regional (Tuscany) as well as local role. It is already engaged in projects that link its teaching and research activities and enterprise not only in local incubators but also in the key world regions which it considers strategic, especially China, Central Asia and Latin America. We expect that participation in the new Erasmus programme, emphasizing professional and on-the job training alongside research and academic formation, and offering the bases to consolidate the higher education sides of the triangle with our non-European strategic areas, will give great and welcome impulse to the competiveness of our country, our micro-region and to Europe.

5) Improving governance and funding

As to governance and funding, we have explained above the organisational rationalisations that we have made and are pursuing in order to increase mobility and also to support the creativity of our staff in developing new directions for teaching/learning and research in an international context. The new phase of Erasmus will have impact on our organisational structures, not only for internationalisation – where it will consolidate the ability to act in a world context – but also, through administrative staff mobility and the introduction of new ways of consulting stakeholders, on other aspects of governance as well.

The University of Pisa has recently reorganised its internationalisation services. A recent Italian law abolished the 11 Faculties, now transformed into 20 new "departments", with key roles both in teaching and research. This has allowed a rationalisation of the roles of the various figures involved in internationalisation, gaining new energies both at the central and the department level.

Each Department now has a "CAI" ("Internationalisation Area Coordinator"), assisted by at least one administrative helper in order to manage the student, teaching and administrative staff mobility, and internationalisation in general.

In line with the University's active and proactive international stance, the central offices have been reinforced and reorganised. There are now two Pro-Rectors (one for Internationalisation in general and one for international communication). There are separate services for international promotion, for management of outgoing student mobility, for welcoming and assistance for incoming mobility (with native or fluent speakers of the most relevant languages). A central service is being set up to assist professors and researchers in responding successfully to European and generally international calls for research, teaching/learning and mobility projects.

Considering the importance of quality tools developed for mobility, the University of Pisa has implemented the automatic on-line delivery of the Diploma Supplement for all its graduates (it successfully applied for the DS label last year); and now a guided software interface to facilitate the timely publication of the ECTS course catalogue (it will apply for the ECTS label this year).

The University has joined Consortia of Universities to expand the choices of students interested in placement; it encourages students to enrol in the programmes taught in English offering special "packages" of services. It devotes a conspicuous sum of its own resources to co-financing Erasmus projects and mobility.

The University of Pisa has taken a key role in promoting European mobility since the first years of the Erasmus Programme, when it was a member of the ECTS Pilot Project. As a prestigious international university, whose role is that of promoting and enhancing the elaboration and transfer of knowledge at a level of excellence in an international framework, the University of Pisa has supported and participated not only in Erasmus mobility programmes since 1989, but also in Erasmus centralised actions and projects including Intensive Programmes, Curriculum Development programmes, Thematic and Academic Networks.

The University of Pisa is deeply committed to continuing this strategy and developing it further in the future phases of Erasmus. It salutes the opening of Erasmus to the wider world as an opportunity to coordinate and develop mobility between Europe and the world's other macro-regions, and to improve the tools that ensure the quality of that mobility. It has been since 2000 one of the promoters of the Tuning Process, in Europe, Latin America, Russia, Georgia and it is represented on the Tuning Management. At present it coordinates, from a scientific and academic point of view, the large-scale TuCAHEA Tempus Structural Measures project, which aims to create a Central Asian Higher Education Area aligned with the EHEA.

a) Partners: Its mobility partners have been chosen in several ways: as in most universities, through Erasmus, Socrates and the Erasmus LLP programme, some partnerships with like-minded universities have developed on the basis of personal links of professors and researchers who have wished to add a staff and/or student mobility dimension to their existing cooperation. Often however key partnerships have been established as a result of the shared commitment to the various networks and large-scale European projects which the University of Pisa has coordinated or been a partner of. Mobility partners are screened in practice for their correct and 'virtuous' use of ECTS. This has allowed the University of Pisa to build up through its many bilateral agreement a network of trusted Erasmus partners, in which all eligible countries are represented. Often this network is the result of the extension to new subject areas of existing agreements which have proved positive and of interest to the students.

b) Geographic areas: The University of Pisa began its Erasmus experience in the late '80s in the then context of 11 countries. At each opportunity to increase the number of partners in the Erasmus framework it has done so, first in western then in eastern and central Europe, and more recently in Turkey and with the newly eligible Balkan partners. At the same time, during the last two decades, it has developed its network of scientific and mobility agreements well beyond the countries eligible for Erasmus. Its geographic strategy has emphasized particularly some work regions, although agreements have been made for cooperation in research and teaching with other countries as well. In addition to its pan-European network of partners, it has emphasized partnerships with Latin America, China, Central Asia, North Africa and the United States. It has Erasmus Mundus partners in Africa, Asia, North-South America.These partnerships will form a basis for developments in the future Erasmus programme.

c) Objectives and target groups: The present Erasmus mobility has as its objective that of making it possible for all students (and professors) to engage in mobility if they wish, and to remove barriers to full use of the opportunities offered by Erasmus. In a large generalist university such as the university of Pisa, the strategy is not to give priority to any one disciplinary area or category of students, but rather to coordinate and extend the good practice established in the areas that have proved particularly active in Erasmus to the other subject areas. The subject areas of Humanities, Engineering, Natural, Social and Applied Sciences have consolidated particularly successful mobility programmes, for both the first and the second cycles. The key objectives are:

• To increase the incoming and outgoing student and staff mobility in the subject areas/departments where it is currently less develope.
• To increase the number of programmes taught in English, particularly in the scientific and technological are.
• To build up the mobility of non-teaching staff, which is particularly valuable in training the administrative support for internationalisation.
• To improve the support for incoming students in order to reach similar levels to that of outgoing students.
• To increase mobility of students of all cycles, teaching and non-teaching staff towards the more recent EU partners and countries newly eligible for Erasmus.
• To develop and use more effectively the tools for doctoral mobility.
• To develop more double and joint degree programmes with European and non-European partner.

The hospital network

Pisa is known in Italy not only for its historical and artistic beauty but also for the quality of its hospitals and clinics. It is also known for the high quality of its doctors and professionals.

Hospitals

The most important and oldest public hospital was founded in 1257 close to Piazza dei Miracoli. This facility, now known as the University Hospital of Pisa, still provides part of its services inside the ancient headquarters of the Spedali Riuniti of Santa Chiara, just a few steps away from the famous leaning tower and from the historical city walls. One of its main entrances at via Roma 67 coincides with the headquarters of the department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine.

A few years ago, the University Hospital of Pisa started to move its operational units to a modern hospital complex built in the city outskirts in the area of Cisanello. In particular this houses the Emergency department (Building 31, close to entrance 1; tel 050 992300).

Besides being known for combining medical activities with university training, the University Hospital of Pisa is classified as a "hospital of national prominence and high specialization" in the fields of: ophthalmology; intensive neurological care; nefrourology; kidney, liver and pancreas transplants; surgery of the thorax and lung cancer; general and minimally invasive surgery; laparoscopy surgery; endocrinology; endocrine surgery; large burns. Furthermore, it is a "tertiary referral hospital", able to ensure the highest level of performance in situations of emergency. Examples of these are: heart surgery, neurosurgery and neonatal intensive therapy. For more information, please visit the related website.

Not far from the Hospital of Cisanello, at via Moruzzi 1, there is also the hospital facility of the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-CNR). Linked to the National Health Service, it was established to promote scientific innovation and a multi-disciplinary approach to disease and cure. The CNR of Pisa also cooperates with the Regional Health System, the University and the industrial sector with the purpose of assisting patients using the most advanced technologies.

The medical assistance service is insured by the Gabriele Monasterio Foundation which works inside the Institute of Clinical Physiology; its main areas of intervention are general and pediatric cardiology, cardiac surgery, electrophysiology, cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine. The facility also has an outpatient area for specialist visits and a Day Hospital which manages the services for Day Surgery, Day Hospital and Day Service. For more information on the specialist services and the clinical exams, please visit the related webpage.

Private clinics

The main and best known private hospital facility in Pisa is the Casa di Cura San Rossore, famous throughout Italy for the renowned specialist doctors who work there. This multiple specializations clinic which is located inside the San Rossore park at via delle Cascine 152/F provides inpatient diagnostic and care services, short-term recovery/hospitalization and outpatient treatment. The clinic also provides an Intensive Medical Assistance service in case of an emergency. For further information, please visit http://sanrossorecura.it/.

The Casa di Cura Suore dell'Addolorata is a private clinic with headquarters at Via Alessandro Manzoni 13. This facility was founded in 1977. It has 34 beds and is divided into two units: the autonomous health unit of outpatient surgery and Day Surgery and the outpatient health unit for specialized and diagnostic services. This clinic does not offer Emergency services.

Some of the services, in particular those of gynecology, general surgery and ophthalmology, can be covered by the National Health Service. In other cases, the hospitalization and service costs are the patient's full responsibility.

However, the waiting time for specialist visits is very short and the service fees are the same as, or slightly higher than, those indicated in the Tuscan regional fee system. You may make an appointment by calling 050.45075 or by directly going to the facility's administrative offices.

Welcome to the University of Pisa!

Before you leave:

Please make sure you get in touch with the Italian Erasmus coordinator (otherwise known as CAI, "Coordinatore di Area per l'Internazionalizzazione), especially for the Erasmus Placement, to:

• Find out how the department is organized and what courses you should take as well as when to take Italian lessons
• Learn about all of the administrative steps necessary in order to start
• While you are still abroad you could register online through the Alice portal, in order to obtain the credentials required to complete the enrolment procedure at the University of Pisa
• Activate your credentials through the following link (type your tax code generated on Alice portal);
• Fill in and submit the Application form for incoming students and obtain the validation from the CAI (Non-EU incoming students that staying in Italy for more than 90 days, is required to upload the post office receipt of the Residence permit application).

In order to be as prepared as possible for this new experience, please keep in mind a few logistical aspects:

• Accommodation: Check useful information about finding accommodation. We strongly recommend you to get started with your apartment search as soon as you can
• Visa and residency permit: Compulsory steps if you are an incoming Non-EU Erasmus student
• Entry and residency rights for EU citizens
• Cost of living: although living in Pisa can be quite inexpensive, please do keep in mind that the cost of living is greater than the regular monthly stipend received by the Erasmus programme
• Health insurance: learn how the health system works in Italy and what steps you need to follow before your departure
• Opening a Bank account: find out if your bank at home has a branch in Italy or any agreements with an Italian bank in Pisa

Please make sure to read our International Student Guide with a summary on each of these aspects.

What to do once you arrive in Pisa?

Sometimes students may feel a bit overwhelmed by the novelty of a new city. This is absolutely normal. Following are a few steps that will help you feel more confident as you head into this new adventure:

Necessary steps:

1. E-mail your CAI representative to set up an appointment so you can meet
2. If you have not yet registered through the Alice portal, this is the time to do so
3. Please, fill in and submit the Application form for incoming students, if you have not done it yet
4. If you are an incoming Non-EU Erasmus student, coming from a non-Schengen Country and planning to stay in Italy longer than 3 months, you must apply for the Residency permit. Before applying a kind reminder about measures of admission to Italy from abroad. Furthermore, please keep in mind that you need to upload the post office receipt attesting the submission of the Residency permit on your Application form for incoming students, before its submission. On the other hand, if you are a Non-EU Erasmus student, coming from a Schengen Country, you do not have to apply for the Italian residency permit provided you have the requested documents indicated at this link.
5. You can finally download the documents concerning your mobility through your account on Erasmus incoming platform.

All of these steps will finally make your "Erasmus student" status official!

Erasmus mobility documents

You can download the documents concerning your mobility through your account on Erasmus incoming platform (Find out more).

STUDENT CARD

The student card “Studente della Toscana” is a magnetic card that gives you access to several services throughout Tuscany, and especially at the Universities of Pisa, Florence, and Siena, as you can see at this link.

Moreover, this card, as proof of your enrollment at the University for the Erasmus+ mobility period, will also provide you with discounts and special conditions (i.e. conventions with cinemas, museums, and exhibitions) even outside Tuscany, in Italy, or abroad.

How to get your Student Card

Once you will be in Pisa and after you have received an email confirmation of the approval of your application, you can schedule an appointment with the central office through the online agenda, available on your Erasmus Mobility profile by clicking on “Online form for Erasmus+ student”.

The student front office is located in PIAZZA TORRICELLI 4.

 

UNIVERSITY BOOKLET

You can access your booklet through the following page by using Alice’s credentials after your enrolment procedure is completed.

If you wish to keep updated on the registration of all your exams, you need to download the APP “IO” and activate the notification service.

For more useful information, please go to the following link where you will learn more about living in Pisa.

The University has a "Segreteria Studenti" (Secretariat or Student Affairs Office) for students where they may obtain academic information regarding our procedures as well as transfers and the recognition of credits from other universities.

This office also provides any necessary information on what to do when the student may need to interrupt his/her studies in case of illness, maternity leave or for any other private or family reasons. The "Matricolandosi" (Enroll) division of the Secretariat is responsible for enrolling Italian and international students. Furthermore, the University has an International Office (IO), divided into three units (Mobility, Cooperation and Promotion) which offers academic and logistical assistance to incoming and outgoing students. Inside the IO there is a "Welcome Office" where students may learn about the various services and facilities offered by the University and the city of Pisa. These services range from information on visas, residence permits, health insurance to cultural, recreational and sports events.

 The content you are looking for can be found at:

https://www.unipi.it/index.php/study/itemlist/category/524

The University offers specific services to assist you at all moments of your academic experience: before, during and after.

Orientation

The University has an Orientation committee which organizes "Open Days" and initiatives to present each Department's academic offer and services to high school students and teachers as well as information on the admission exam. For example: Engineering Open Days, Medicine Open Days, University Open Days.

This committee is composed of University representatives for each Department and is responsible for guidance activities for incoming students.

Orientation test for high school students

Success in university studies strongly depends on your learning techniques. The University offers a test for high school students which is specifically aimed at helping them understand key features regarding how they study. The test focuses on three aspects in particular:

• the way you collect and process information in order to make an informed choice;
• study method;
• attitudes and beliefs that guide your approach to studying.

After you have filled out the test, which takes only a few minutes and can be done online, you can print the result which will show a profile based on the answers given. It will also give suggestions on how to improve the study method and how to cope with school problems. If you would like to discuss the test results you may contact the Counseling service.

Tutoring

Each degree programme has a President and a board of advisors, composed of professors, representing each of the subjects taught in the related Programme. Advisors assist students in creating their own Plan of Study and help them resolve any issues they may have with a given discipline. In order to ensure this process, advisors are available to meet at given hours during the week.

For international students, each Department has a "CAI" ("Internationalisation Area Coordinator"), assisted by at least one administrative helper, in order to manage the mobility of students, teaching and administrative staff, and internationalisation in general.

Job placement

Job placement is a web portal serving three types of public: students who have graduated and are looking for a job; potential employers interested in hiring; and University staff-members who work as intermediaries and counselors in this sector. Students have the opportunity to understand how the job market functions, prepare for job interviews or even learn how to start their own business.