We also had the opportunity to meet Professor Matteo Kalschmidt from Bergamo University.  We learnt how important the university is for the territory.

Here's the interview:

Then we met a student from Politecnico of Milan  and here is a short diary about his experience...

"I get off the train at the Stazione Centrale, and once in Milan, I decide to go and have a look at the Politecnico: after visiting Bergamo University, I now want to see what the largest technical university in Italy is like.

When I get there I see a guy who doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, so I approach him and start talking to him. His name is Mattia and he tells me lots of really interesting things both about the Politecnico and his personal experience. Mattia has just started his 4th year. He has already got a degree in environmental engineering and now he is going to specialise in environmental remediation. He has chosen this specialisation because he thinks that in the future economy will be linked to environmental respect, so there will be more work in this field.

He says that the most difficult part of his experience at the PoliMi was obviously the first year; he was upset by the size of the University that is made up of more than 26 buildings and is attended by about 42.000 students. He chose to go to the Politecnico because of its prestige: it is ranked 5th for design, 10th for architecture and 17th for engineering according to the international university rankings. He suggests I should find an accommodation in the area near the PoliMi in case I decide to attend the university, because in this way you can better enjoy your experience as a student as you don’t depend on public transport.

The university, he adds, also offers a lot of courses totally in English that require a B2 level and there is the possibility to take part into the Erasmus Exchange Programs. The courses also offer visits to companies nearby, real laboratories and meetings with famous experts who often come from abroad. I discover that the PoliMi is also the Italian university with the highest number of foreign students and that 80% of the students graduated at the Politecnico find a job within 3 months and 95% within 6 months. Before saying goodbye he tells me that his dream is to work in Africa, in the environmental remediation field."