Artificial intelligence is a topic of great scientific importance and growing relevance for the development of the country and the new labour market. The economic sectors and professional fields that require advanced and specialised skills in this area are constantly growing.
With this in mind, Milan-Bicocca, Milan State and Pavia Universities formed a partnership to launch a new three-year degree course in artificial intelligence: the first Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence.
Recently approved by the National University Council, it will be offered from academic year 2021/2022 and will have its administrative headquarters in Pavia. Classes will be held at all three universities. It will be a high-level, innovative course, with an international and inter-university nature, and the only one in Italy to link the three universities with some of the best universities in the world (including Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Oxford, MIT, Harvard, Imperial College London, Columbia University, Stanford), which already offer advanced training programmes on this subject.
Innovation, in order to be such, can only be interdisciplinary, arising from the reconfiguration of knowledge and the complete overcoming of the traditional fences between areas of knowledge. Artificial Intelligence, the main focus of the course, is considered as a family of disciplines linked by the overall goal of helping to improve the quality of life. The Course is entrusted to lecturers of the three Universities, representing fields ranging from engineering to physics, from computer science to philosophy, from statistics to mathematics, from law to psychology, from neuroscience to logic.
AI is a crucial issue for research, society and the economy and is set to become increasingly crucial in the future. The course aims to train new professionals belonging to the scientific world and the international labour market and who are able to accompany private companies or public institutions in the technological revolution characterised by the development of advanced automation tools and human-machine interaction with intelligent behaviour. This will lead to the creation of the profession of “expert in artificial intelligence", with knowledge and skill sets that differ from those of the typical computer science, computer engineering or data science graduate. Four professional profiles, to meet the innovation needs of the public and private sectors: knowledge management in communication and marketing, application to intelligent manufacturing processes, human-environment interaction, applications to mathematical models and physical technologies.
The intention is that the course should become an international study environment through the participation of students from other countries. It will start in academic year 2021-2022 and will have a limited capacity of 180 places, 30 of which will be reserved for non-EU citizens. Students will be selected by entrance exam. As lessons will be entirely in English, students will be required to have at least level B2 certification. The course will be completed by laboratory work or an internship in a university, company or research institution, in order to further refine the students' ability to apply the knowledge acquired during the course to solve theoretical, methodological, technical or applicative problems.
The establishment of this degree course is intended as the first step towards the creation, starting from 2022, of a more comprehensive course that will also include at least one master's degree course, in order to offer graduates the opportunity for more in-depth training with more specific objectives.
Statement by the Rector of the University of Milan-Bicocca, Giovanna Iannantuoni: "This degree course is the best response that universities can give, by joining forces, to a need that is already well-consolidated. Artificial Intelligence is increasingly present in various fields, from marketing to medicine. We therefore need to train professionals capable of moving in all the many fields in which it is applied. This requirement is guaranteed by the interdisciplinary approach of the course which, together with its international scope, opens up a wide range of employment opportunities for future graduates".
Statement by the Rector of Milan State University Elio Franzini:
"This cooperation, which began last year at what can only be described as a special time, has the meaning, and not merely on a symbolic level, of a recovery that looks to the future with energy and determination, by serving the innovation of the professions and the economic system of our area with the rich multidisciplinary nature that characterises our universities, an essential methodological key for interpreting the complexity of the challenges that lie ahead."
Statement by the Rector of the University of Pavia Francesco Svelto: "I am particularly pleased to announce this new inter-university degree course, which aims to meet the needs of international and European students in particular. Today we are launching the three-year degree course in Artificial Intelligence, by merging the expertise of Milan-Bicocca, Milano State and Pavia Universities. We will train four different job descriptions ready for the labour market or for further study through dedicated Master's degree courses, which we are currently working on."
Download the course prospectus