What Diego thinks about studying in Padua

Interesting question for me, because I’ve changed 2 universities and 3 degree programs during my amazing academic career:-p

The most enjoyable thing I've found in Padua is the city. Padua is in fact an university city, and most its activities are “student-size”. It is not too much expensive, so us poor students can afford a lot of things. A lot of students associations and free parties make the night life very enjoyable, and above all cheap! Moreover Padua it’s a beautiful mid-size city, this meanings easy life for us poor students with our rusty bicycles (illegally bought near the station for few euros…). There are a lot of bicycle runways around the city too, it’s a very good thing.

Foreign people (especially from the UK and the USA) are astonished by Italian universities because usually they aren’t concentrate around a campus. In Padua it’s quite true too, but there are some areas that are campus-like (e.g. Agripolis, Engineering/ Psychology/ Science/ Pharmacy, Arts and Philosophy). However a spreaded university structure it’s not always a bad thing in a mid-size city as Padua, because so everything is University and everyone is a student!!! This is particularly true getting around the old city.

I studied for some months in Milan, so trust me when I said that living&studying in other bigger cities is not enjoyable as study here in Padova! NOTHING I’ve just said about Padua is true in Milan for example! Okok maybe Universities in Milan are a bit more campus-structured than Padua, but they are so structured because they are under the siege of thousands of cars and smog clouds!!!

Ok, Padua it’s a perfect city where to study, but what about didactics??? Here the problems start… Padua is a university with a strong tradition. There a lot of high quality faculties (e.g. Engineering, Science, Psychology), and IMHO (“in my humble opinion”) a student that gets his degree in Padua will have good opportunities in his future. The main problems are:

• student’s laboratories aren’t too much and they aren’t always the best.
• didactics is often rigid and based on a frontal way of teaching, with only few laboratory activities and projects.
• few extra didactic activities (e.g. summer projects, competitions etc…)
• to much heavy theorical exams and too much little more useful practical activities
  

Nevertheless in my opinion these defects are common in the whole Italian university system…

bye