32 academic hours for a period of 8 weeks. The first three courses will start after 16 October 2018 and end before 21 December 2018. The remaining course will be held between January and March 2019. Courses will be held in the morning (8.30 am) or in the afternoon from 2.30 pm. Timetables will be made available together with the student lists from 12 October in the section “Classes “. 

To meet the needs that emerged in the survey conducted by the PhD Office, in the application form, doctoral students will have to choose between two course options:

1. a course focussing principally on academic speaking skills such as presenting research papers at seminars/conferences, answering questions on one’s research, describing procedures and networking;
2. a course focussing on academic writing and speaking skills such as writing abstracts, writing emails to academic peers, presenting research papers at seminars/conferences and networking;

In order to derive benefit from the courses, participants will require a B2 level of English, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).  It is thus necessary for all students to take an entry test to assess their level. On the basis of the results of the test the Centre may decide to organise courses below B2 level, but no lower than B1 level.

The test has a written and an oral component.

The test of written production (60 minutes) is made up of an email (semi-formal) and a summary/report (formal/academic) on data from a chart/diagram.

The oral test will consist of a brief interview. It is not possible to attend one of the courses without taking the initial test.

Written production: Students can choose between the following:

26 September at 09:00 am,  28 September at 09:00 am, 3 October at 9.00 am

The test will take place in lab.2E, Via Venezia n. 16, Language Centre.

Spoken production and interaction: The oral test will take place during the week starting on 8th October (8-12 October). After all candidates have taken the written test (on 3rd October), an email will be sent with a link to the oral test sign up page. Students will be able to choose a suitable time slot on basis of availability (“first come, first served”). The oral test will take on the afternoon of 9 October (from 2.00pm onwards) and the mornings of 10-11-12 October, from 9:00am onwards.
On the basis of the results of the written and oral tests and the type of course/period chosen, the doctoral students will be organised into groups and offered one of the possible courses. The class lists will be available after 10 October in the section “Classes”.

Students whose level is too low for one of the Phd courses will be contacted individually by email (institutional address).