Florence asks for students' opinions

At the end of the academic year, all 62,000 students at Florence University will hand in their reports on the functioning of the university, including an evaluation of the academics who teach them.

This is the first student evaluation programme at a major Italian university.

A 26-part questionnaire will be distributed to students by the end of this month asking for opinions on all aspects of the university: the lecture halls, equipment, efficiency of laboratories, the logistics and organisation of teaching, the work load for each course they are taking, and the competence of individual lecturers.

Florence's rector, Paolo Blasi, said university authorities will examine the information over the summer.

The results will be used to design the new degree-course system, based on a three-year initial degree followed by optional further study, which uses a system of cumulative credits.

The evaluation of work load will be used to determine the number of credits to assign to each course in a degree programme.