Students of the Interuniversity Master's Degree in Geography and Territorial Sciences have a great degree of flexibility and freedom in choosing their study plan. While there are three suggested pathways, as explained below, students can pick and choose their teaching curricula based on their interests and the language they want to be taught in (English or Italian).
CHOOSING YOUR CAREER PLAN
The general rules for compiling and filling in your career plan are explained on the main university portal at this link. Specific rules and suggestions for the degree’s study plan are explained below.
Some courses of the master’s degree in Geography and Territorial Sciences are offered by the Politecnico di Torino. In this case, some specific rules apply. Please be aware of the following guidelines:
- Official Information: For all information regarding courses offered at PoliTo, the official source is the portal www.polito.it
- Course Schedules: Class schedules and room assignments are updated dynamically (daily, in real time) on the website https://www.swas.polito.it/dotnet/orari_lezione_pub/
- Course Enrollment: To access course materials, book exams, and take exams, you MUST be enrolled in the course. Enroll by accessing the CampusNet UniTo portal, finding the PoliTo courses you are interested in, and clicking the "REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE" button at the bottom right of the "shadow" page (note that only the official page on the PoliTo website is valid).
- Enrollment Deadlines: The enrollment deadline for the first semester is October 6, 2024, and for the second semester, it is March 15, 2025.
- Enrollment Verification: PoliTo administrative staff will download the list of registered students after these dates. There will be NO subsequent updates. If you are unsure, you can enroll in multiple courses. If you change your mind later, please inform the professor directly.
- Enrollment Purpose: CampusNet enrollment only applies to course activities and does not affect your official academic record, which follows UniTo procedures.
- Login Credentials: To access the student section of the PoliTo portal, use your POLITO student ID, which will be assigned to you. Your initial login will be with your institutional email address and your 8-digit date of birth.
- In-Class Introduction: PoliTo lecturers will be informed about the presence of LM80 students. However, please introduce yourselves during the first class or in the first few days to help professors gauge class size.
- Enrollment Processing: Enrollment processing will not be completed until mid-October. In the meantime, please find unofficial ways to communicate with professors and access course materials.
- Workload: 1 PoliTo credit typically equates to 10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of independent study, compared to UniTo's 6 hours of lectures and 19 hours of independent study. This is due to a greater emphasis on in-class activities, including attendance and participation.
- Exam Grades: PoliTo lecturers will record exam grades on the PoliTo portal, and the data will be sent to the UniTo administrative staff to update your academic records. Please allow a few days after the end of the exam period to see your updated transcript. If you have urgent needs, inform your professor.
- Attendance Issues: If you have attendance issues due to logistical or scheduling conflicts, please inform the relevant professors, and a solution will be found on a case-by-case basis."
Please, notice that the aforementiong procedure only applies to courses that are dispensed within PoliTo degrees but officially recognized by UniTo degrees.
DIFFERENT PATHWAYS
The Interuniversity Master's Degree in Geography and Territorial Sciences features three different recommended pathways. Two of them are offered in Italian: i) Applied geomorphology and meteorology; ii) Landscape protection and enhancement; one of them is offered entirely in English: Urban and political geography.
International students who are interested in pathway i) and ii) can however attend the first year’s courses in English, while the specialized teaching units are mostly held in Italian during Year 2. Students can also choose not to follow a specific pathway, but instead create their own pathway by combining individual courses, as long as the rules of the degree are followed.
DETAILS ABOUT THE URBAN AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY PATHWAY
In the first year, the degree includes courses aimed at acquiring an in-depth knowledge of physical and human geography: students will attend classes that are fundamental for understanding the environmental, socio-cultural and political phenomena connected to the main processes of global change. At the same time, students will learn GIS basic or advanced skills depending on their previous training. In the second year, students can refine their skills, following their study interests and professional goals by using the free credits to specialize.
Suggested study plan for the Urban and political geography pathway (for the other pathways, check the dedicated section on the Italian website):
|
Year 1 |
|
|
Credits |
Modules |
|
9 |
Geography, theory and practice (Lancione M.) |
|
9 |
Urban and Regional Development (Salone C. - Pollio. A.) |
|
9 |
Geomorphology and soil conservation (Mandrone G.) |
|
9 |
Urban studies (Chiodelli F.) |
|
6 |
History, spaces and theories of capitalism (Consolati I.) |
|
9 |
Remote sensing (Boccardo P.) |
|
6 |
GIS basics (Di Rita M.) or Advanced GIS (Ajmar A.) |
|
|
possibility to add one extra module (6 credits) or a laboratory (3 credits) |
|
Total credits for Year 1: 57 |
|
|
Year 2 |
|
|
9 |
Urban political ecology (Santangelo M.) |
|
6 |
Critical migration studies (Aru S.) |
|
1 module chosen among: |
|
|
6 |
Housing, property, and struggles: a global cartography (Ferreri M.) |
|
|
Racialized and gendered cities (Lancione M.) |
|
|
Southern urbanism (Pollio A.) |
|
12 |
free credits (can include 2 of the optional modules above or courses offered by other degrees) |
|
other activities (laboratories and/or internships/stage curriculari) among: |
|
|
3 |
Chinese Urbanism (Governa F.) |
|
|
Geopolitics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Chiodelli F.) |
|
24 |
Final dissertation (see specific graduation guidelines for this) |
|
Total credits for Year 2: 63 |
|