Wednesday 23 June

Dear Students,

I hope that this letter finds you well, as we approach the summer break I wish to briefly update you with the teaching procedures for the upcoming 2021/22 A/Y.

While social-distancing restrictions within the classrooms are still in force, lessons will be held in dual mode, namely, in presence with simultaneous live streaming. AncoraggioThe School of Banking, Finance and Insurance Sciences professors and instructors wish to emphasise the value of face-to-face teaching and strongly recommend classroom attendance. The August-September exam session will be held remotely, you will be duly informed of methods for the subsequent exam sessions in the first semester. Furthermore, bearing in mind that the Lombardy Region has now moved into the white zone, the School intends to implement in-presence mode for the graduate and undergraduate degree sessions, limited to the thesis mode (not the reports) scheduled for July 2021, applying the general rules for the correct procedures and adequate public participation (limiting the presence to the candidate with a maximum of five guests).

Wishing you every success for the upcoming exam session.

Yours sincerely,

Elena Beccalli

Thursday 6 May

Dear Students,

I would like to share with you with some information regarding the exam session.

Following the Rectoral decree published today, I inform you that the School of Banking, finance and insurance will favor the remote administration of all exams - both written and oral - scheduled until July 31, 2021.

I encourage you to pay close attention to the information that each Professor, as usual, will provide regarding how each remote exam will be administered.

Being confident in the seriousness and maturity of each student to comply with the University Code of Ethics, I express my best wishes for a successful exam session.

Best regards,
Elena Beccalli

Friday 29 January

Dear Students,

I am writing to you again to provide some updates on the teaching methods that will be implemented for the second semester of the 2020/21 a.y. which, for the School of Banking, Finance and Insurance Sciences, will commence on Monday 8 February, 2021.

As in the previous semester, the Faculty is doing its upmost to prioritise face-to-face lessons, based on the following guidelines:

1. if, due to legislation, the Lombardy region re-enters the red zone during the course of this semester, all in-class lessons will be postponed and will be duly held online (if possible,in sync with the current calendar schedule);
2. if, instead, no such restrictions are applied (i.e., Lombardy remains in the orange or yellow zones), in accordance with the University's wish to prioritise in-class lessons for first year students (LT and LM), the Faculty will adopt the following measures:
   a. official teaching for all first-year programmes (LT and LM) delivered entirely face-to-face, with simultaneous streaming for the entire semester; in-class attendance can be booked via the app;
   b.    official teaching for all other years (LT and LM) delivered remotely (preferably in sync with the current calendar schedule), subject to the possibility of in-class lessons upon updates that you will receive from individual tutors.

Given that face-to-face lessons cannot commence before 10:00 each day, as stipulated by the Authorities, an updated lesson timetable is in progress. The overall calendar schedule for each course will be posted on the various channels, specifying in-presence/online mode.

To facilitate better organisation of the teaching provision, we would like to analyse your preferred method of attendance (in-presence/online) and, therefore, we kindly invite you to take part in the survey we sent to your @iCatt mail.

Please feel free to contact me for any further clarification. I thank you all in advance for your collaboration and wish everyone a great learning experience for next term.

Your sincerely,
Elena Beccalli

Tuesday, 28 April

Dear Students,

Here I am once again writing to you, hoping to find you well in this very particular period.

Remote teaching and graduation sessions have been held regularly and with great satisfaction during this semester, thanks to the collaboration of our whole university community, to whom goes my heartfelt thank you.

As for the summer session of exams, I would like to reiterate that all the scheduled dates are confirmed. Oral and/or written tests will be held remotely, based on the instructions that each professor will communicate to you on Blackboard or by e-mail within the first week of May.

The platform used will be Microsoft Teams (for oral exams and for video surveillance during written tests) and Blackboard (in case of tests and open questions).

We strongly recommend that you register for the exam only and exclusively when you are sure that you will sit the written and/or oral test, in order to allow your professors to plan the exam properly for the benefit of all students.

I remind you that the provisions of our Code of Ethics apply to the remote examination (with particular reference to art. 35 "Educational commitments and relations with academic staff", which I attach here).

Finally, I would like to inform you that the University regularly provides training on the various platforms, the advice is to make use of them in order to familiarize yourself with these platforms in view of the examination.

Best regards,

Elena Beccalli

CODE OF ETHICS
35. Educational commitments and relations with academic staff

1) Università Cattolica students are expected to meet the educational commitments undertaken at the time of their enrolment by conducting themselves in such a way as to be able to carry out properly and successfully their learning activities, programme admission exams, course exams, and study and research activities.

2) Students therefore must not:
a. hinder or compromise in any way the regular pursuit of educational, study, research, support and
administrative activities;

b. break rules governing the proper carrying out of any type of assessments or tests, including programme
admission exams, competition examinations, competitions, examinations, assignments, reports,
presentations, dissertations, teaching and research assessments, and so forth, such as, for example, by:

b1. referring to unauthorised sources, documents or persons or using any unapproved devices,
including electronic devices;

b2. using other people’s ideas, concepts, presentations, data, and any other information developed
or produced in writing or orally, without expressly and correctly specifying the source. In
particular, students must write their dissertation through their own efforts on the subject chosen
in agreement with their supervisor and in full compliance with the regulations governing
copyright and intellectual property rights at all levels;

b3. obtaining or howsoever using before, during or after such assessments or tests information
which may affect their accuracy or reliability or which may alter conditions so that they are not
equal for all candidates;

b4. producing, disseminating or making use of unreliable data, information, documentation, formal
statements, or using unreliable sources.

c. conduct themselves in any other way which is inconsistent with the principles and rules set out in
this Code of Ethics and which may prejudice or risk prejudice to third parties and/or the proper
carrying out of University activities.

3) Expression of disagreement with academic staff or with those who are part of the university staff or
academic bodies must be adequately justified, and dialogue must be sought with the academic staff
in question or with those in question who are part of the university staff or of the academic bodies.

4) Students shall be truthful when evaluating University teaching and services and shall take the process
seriously, aware that they are usefully contributing to improving University life.

Thursday 2 April

Dear Students,

Once again I am sharing this update with you in these days of particular hardship. I hope this finds you well and I am close to those who have been experiencing situations of difficulty for themselves and their beloved ones.

This challenging time of distant university life continues relentlessly. Our School of Banking, Financial and Insurance Sciences has once again shown a strong capacity to innovate and to devote the greatest attention to students. All the lectures of this semester have been redesigned to be delivered remotely: between 26 February and 20 March our School's lecturers delivered 67 live lectures and 415 video-lectures via Blackboard. In this regard, I would like to thank the teachers for the careful redesign of the teaching, and the students for their constant collaboration. Although we are waiting for coordinated instructions from universitiesin Lombardy, given the current circumstances, teaching is expected to continue remotely in April.

Next week, our School's graduating students will be engaged in remote graduation discussion of their papers through Microsoft Teams. A further challenging task could concern the possible remote delivery of exams. A working group has been established by the University and the possible IT solutions and tools are being studied. If itis necessary to activate this method to sit exams, I will keep you informed.

After having successfully experimented remote Graduate Programmes graduation sessions, the whole University will continue with a remote promotion and orientation activity. As part of the Open week, the Open day for our School's Graduate programme is scheduled for 14 April, with a streaming of the Dean with some testimonialsat 11am following a video-presentation of each single programme offered by the School.

Looking forward to meeting you in person again in our cloisters, I thank you for the excellent cooperation and appreciation you are continuing to show over these critical weeks.

Best wishes.

Elena Beccalli

Thursday 5 March

Dear Students,

An important update in light of the recent measures imposing an additional week of suspension of academic activities.

Following new instructions received by the Rector, I share with you the revised line of action for the School of Banking, Financial and Insurance Sciences:

Online teaching
As suggested by the University, classes will be taught online until the end of the suspension of academic activities. The recommendation is to use Blackboard Collaborate Ultra for this teaching. Instructors will give you details about how they are planning to use the platform for the specific courses.
The transition to online teaching, even with the reservations already expressed, appears necessary also considering the uncertainty about future developments and the students’ requests.

Make-up classes for February 24 to March 7
Make-up classes for the two weeks already suspended (24 February - 7 March) will be scheduled in the time slot of regular classes (same time and day) using the period between May 4 and May 16. Each instructor will provide information about the changes to the specific course schedules.

Exams, graduations and office hours
As for exams, thesis defenses,  graduations and office hours, there is no change to what I have wrote you a few days ago. Everything remains unchanged.

Sincerely Yours,
Elena Beccalli

Wednesday 4 March

Dear Students,

I hope you are well in these trying days.

This brief note, which is part of the communications of the Rector following the measures of the Authorities regarding the evolution of the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, describes the lines of action of the School of Banking Financial and Insurance Sciences, elaborated in agreement with the University, with regard to various aspects of our university life.

Teaching activities
The solution we have identified consists of make-up classes. We have a strong preference for face-to-face teaching, given the value that the relationship with the student has for our University and for our School. In fact, we believe that face-to-face teaching represents an element that greatly enriches everyone's training and human journey, which is essential in our educational action.

As you know, all teaching activities are suspended until Saturday 7 March. Therefore, considering that our calendar is divided into 12 weeks of classes, make-up classes will be scheduled from 4 to 16 May.

Instructors are also using the Blackboard platform to continuously engage students by providing readings, problem sets, cases and other support material that each instructor deems appropriate for the specificities of the different courses. I invite each student to carefully follow these instructions.

For teaching activities that cannot be rescheduled face-to-face, the University has already enhanced the Blackboard platform. This will allow instructors to record lessons that can be streamed. If this option becomes necessary, I will promptly inform you.

Exams
The above described solutions for teaching activities will allow us to avoid changes to the already existing exams calendar.

Thesis Defenses
As of today, there is also no change to the April 2020 session of thesis defenses. In case it becomes necessary, the University will grant extensions to deliver the theses. Furthermore, if teaching activities were still suspended at the beginning of April, the thesis defense session will be guaranteed using suitable alternatives.

Office hours
It would be preferable to avoid face-to-face meetings during office hours. I recommend using Skype or even the telephone for these meetings.

Thank you very much for your attention, and I look forward to meeting you again in our cloisters.

Elena Beccalli