SCIENZE DELL'ARCHITETTURA

The three-year Architectural Science degree combines theoretical study with a strong technical and applied component.
The different design subjects (architectural composition, restoration, urban studies and architectural and construction technology) are organized within laboratories where students, supported by their theoretical studies, carry out an applied activity during lesson hours, so that from the outset they are acquiring not just the knowledge, but also the skills needed to draw and design.
Graduates of the three-year Architectural Sciences degree can sit the state exam to become registered as an architect, junior planner and junior civil and environmental engineer.
The professional skills to be acquired cover a very wide range. An architect has specific skills in architectural design and, in a more general sense, in public works, including reinforced concrete structures, in urban regional planning, building surveying and quantity surveying, as well as in public works with significant artistic interest and in the restoration and rehabilitation of listed buildings protected by the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code.
A planner has expertise in spatial, landscape, environment and town planning and in the carrying out and coordination of complex and specialized analysis of urban, spatial, landscape and environmental structures.
His tasks can also include the coordination and management of environmental assessment and feasibility of urban and territorial plans and projects, and the handling of strategies, policies and projects about urban and territorial transformation.
The possibility of sitting the state exam to become registered as an engineer also involves acquiring skills in design, development, supervision of works, estimate, testing, management and evaluation of the impact of buildings, structures, infrastructures, and civil systems on the environment and the territory.
Regarding Architecture degree courses, current legislation states that each University will choose whether to keep the traditional one cycle 5-year degree or move to the 3+2 system (three-year first cycle degree plus two-year second cycle degree).
The University of Parma was the only one in the Emilia Romagna region to choose the latter option, thus setting up a (three-year) Degree Course in Architectural Science and a (two-year) second cycle degree course in Architecture. The three-year Architectural Science degree is a course with a fixed number of places, which are set at the national level (150 places have been set for the 2013/14 academic year). The second cycle degree, the conclusion of the so-called 3+2 cycle, has exactly the same legal and essential value as the traditional one cycle 5-year degree. We are satisfied about the choice we made and its results: in recent years the majority of students have obtained their degree within the set three years and have gone on to the second cycle degree, while only a minority did not continue their studies. The latter showed foresight in choosing studies that after three years gave them a legal title that can be useful to them both in the world of employment and freelancing. Currently, about 600 students are enrolled in the Architectural Science Degree Course at the University of Parma.
The courses are organized in accordance with European Directive 85/384/EEC concerning the reciprocal recognition of diplomas, certificates and other qualifications in the Architecture sector.