All career guidance, tutoring, and job placement activities are planned, coordinated, and publicised by the Career Guidance and Tutoring Committee, which is appointed by the Degree Programme Committee and consists of the Degree Programme Committee’s career guidance coordinator, three academic staff members affiliated with the Degree Programme, the disability affairs representative, and the academic manager. During its term, the Committee liaises, with regard to incoming student orientation, with both the Department’s Guidance and Tutoring Committee and the University of Messina’s Guidance and Placement Centre (C.O.P.). Guidance activities are publicised on the degree programme website and are organised on two levels: local and international.
To promote activities at international level, the Degree Programme Coordinator (Prof. Concetta De Stefano, email: cdestefano@unime.it) and the Degree Programme’s orientation coordinator (Dr. Marilena Meo, email: mmeo@unime.it) collaborate with the University of Messina’s International Mobility Office to promote the content of the new English-language degree programme. The University of Messina’s Welcome Office supports international students interested in the new English-language degree programme. The Welcome Office supports international students interested in enrolling at our campus by providing useful information regarding enrolment procedures, visa and residence permit issuance, and by facilitating the process of finding suitable accommodation in Messina. The Welcome Office also provides assistance to international students throughout their academic careers. Additionally, further support is provided by the Student Ambassador Program, a new unit dedicated to the internationalisation of the student community at the University of Messina. Its objectives are:
a) to increase the recruitment of international students and diversify the student body;
b) to provide assistance to current students and new entrants;
c) to provide information and guidance through peer-to-peer channels via the UniBuddy chat and blog.
Brochures in Italian and English, as well as short videos about the degree programme, are shared not only on the programme website but also on social media channels (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc.).
At local level, the Committee oversees all orientation activities agreed with schools for their final-year guidance, including through the PCTO (Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation) and “Consapevolmente” projects. These initiatives, in addition to presenting the degree programme, its educational objectives, and potential career paths, take place both in the classrooms and laboratories of the CHiBioFarAm Department and in schools. They include information seminars and themed experiential workshops aimed at introducing students to marine sciences. During these visits, information materials presenting the degree programme are distributed.
Furthermore, the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Marine Biology and Blue Biotechnologies also participates in the National Plan for Scientific Degrees (PLS) in Biology, launched in 2005 by the Ministry of Education, Universities, and Research (MIUR), at the urging of the Conference of Deans of Scientific Disciplines and Confindustria, in order to counter the decline in enrolment.
The degree programme also organises an annual “Orientation Freshman Day”, during which incoming students receive comprehensive information about the programme, including details regarding the academic adviser—who is assigned by lottery from among all academic staff affiliated with the degree programme to each enrolled student—and who acts as a point of contact to support and guide them throughout their academic journey, as well as information on the services offered to students.
The Degree Programme’s Orientation Committee collaborates with the Orientation and Tutoring Committee of the Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical, and Environmental Sciences.
In addition to taking part in orientation events organised by the University, orientation activities are carried out both at the individual degree programme level and at departmental level.
Orientation activities fall into three categories:
incoming student orientation, aimed at presenting the University’s academic offer in order to enable interested individuals to make an informed choice regarding their course of study, through the organisation of and participation in orientation events, information activities, and ongoing relationships with regional, extra-regional, and cross-border school systems;
ongoing guidance, aimed at reducing dropout and withdrawal rates, delays, and the gap between the expected and actual duration of the study programme, by eliminating or at least reducing the obstacles that prevent regular attendance;
post-graduation guidance, aimed at developing initiatives and project-based activities that support young people during the transition from education to employment, including assisted pathways into employment and a specific authorisation framework for labour market intermediation.
ChiBioFarAm Guidance Email: orientamento.chibiofaram@unime.it
Prof. Andreana Marino (anmarino@unime.it - 0906766441), Departmental representative for students with disabilities.