FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Biomedical Engineering Referents List

Study Plan, Required, Independent and Extra Courses

Yes, of course, as many times as you want.

For the complete and detailed description, go to the page: https://www.polimi.it/studenti/piano-degli-studi/come-presentare-il-piano-degli-studi/

In a nutshell, the extra courses are not included in the calculation of the score average and “don’t contribute to achieve the required number of ECTS” which you need to graduate (that is 180 for the Laurea Triennale and 120 for the Laurea Magistrale). Therefore, if you add the exam in the Study Plan and don’t pass it, nothing will happen. Otherwise, good for you, and in the list of exams that you have passed in Polimi, will be included also the Extra exams. You have the possibility to add any course you want, even Wood Design if you like, and no one can stop you from doing that.

The Independent courses, on the other hand, are included in the calculation of the score average and contribute to achieve the number of ECTS needed to graduate for the Laurea Triennale (180) and for the Laurea Magistrale (120), but they are considered “Independent” (different from “Required”)  because they are not included in the Laurea Study Programme that you have chosen. If you don’t pass an Independent exam, you are not allowed to graduate. “The inclusion in the Study Plan has to be approved by the Study Programme Board”: this means that if the coordinator of the Study Plan considers your Independent course unsuitable for your degree, you will have to change it.

Both types of courses, however, contribute (together with the Required courses) to the total amount of ECTS of the academic year and on the basis of these credits will be calculated the second instalment of the tuition fee.

In conclusion:

  • If you include exams up to a maximum of 74 ECTS, you pay the same exact fee that you would normally pay.
  • If you include from 75 to 80 ECTS, you pay the 130% of the fee that you would normally pay.
  • If you try to enter 80 ECTS, the system stops you, because 80 is the maximum limit of ECTS that you can enter in an Academic Year.

An Extra exam can be passed as a Required exam every time that you resubmit the Study Plan (so even during the half-year change period in March), but the mark of the exam will be not included in the calculation of the score average until the exam is added as Required to the Study Plan. Vice versa, a Required exam can always be changed to As Extra every time you resubmit the Study Plan (when you are submitting the plan, it should appear something similar to a red circle with two arrows which shows the exchange of positions in the Study Plan)

In February you can modify the list of exams of the second semester and you can change the courses of the first semester from Required to As Extra and vice versa; in September, if you didn’t pass some of your Extra exams in the second semester, you can change them to Required and take them in February

If you have a mark in an extra exam, you can include it directly in the current Study Plan.

No, every exam needs to be added just one time.

Yes, but only once you have included in your Study Plan the exams of the first year. Otherwise the plan is automatically considered Independent and this will inevitably lengthen the validation period of your Study Plan. It is recommended for those who starts in March to add just the courses of the second semester and submit an annual plan in September.

No, it is not necessary.

It is possible to freely make these changes only when you submit the annual Study Plan in September. In the second semester these changes are allowed only for the courses of the current year.

Yes. If this change is made when you submit the plan in the first semester you must pay part of the tuition fee.

Verify that you have counted your credits correctly.
Before saving, delete the signs
check from the rows of the plane where it appears
‘teaching to be defined

The system re-assigns order numbers from a
year to the other on its own. Often the
system errs in the presence of a teaching
self-contained, but not
necessarily only in this case.
When this happens, you start by entering
missing exams in the remaining order numbers.
When it is no longer possible to use
‘insert self-examination’ option.

Third year, difference between IND and INF, exams to be chosen

Basically they differ in:

1)the section of the italian professional register in which you wil sign once graduated

2)exams to be chosen at the end of the third year

The choice between IND and INF tracks is binding only if you decide to interrupt your studies at the end of the third year and to take the state exam for professional practice. If you have chosen the industrial track you must subscribe for the industrial section of the state exam, otherwise you will take the information engineers exam.

Furthermore, the choiche exams of IND and IND tracks must be taken respectively from the IND and INF pool.

If you want to continue in the master the choice between IND or INF tracks is not binding because the choice exam is the same: you must choose “Calcolo numerico”, which is preparatory for the master degree.

Yes, Calcolo Numerico is still mandatory if you want to take the master degree; it is a propedeutic course and it is request even to students from other universities.

So, the only really choosable course is the one from the BIO group.

Actually, you can only choose a Project Course related to you study plan, so IND or INF. Anyway, the choiche between the two bachelor tracks is relevant only if you don’t continue with the master degree.

Instead, if you plan to interrupt your studies after the bachelor and to enroll the Engineers national register, the study plan track and the group from which you choose exams must be the same. 

Sure, but if you access to the master degree, the track you have choosen in the third year doesn’t matter.

You can find official information about the admissione to the master in the document Educational rules, which can be found following this link:

https://www4.ceda.polimi.it/manifesti/manifesti/controller/extra/RegolamentoPublic.do?jaf_currentWFID=main&EVN_DEFAULT=evento&aa=2019&k_corso_la=471&lang=EN

These information are included in paragraph 6.1 Access requirements.

The new procedure to evaluate Master degree accesses is a bit tricky. Basically, starting from academic year 2018/2019, if you are a Polimi student and you want to enroll the master your grades weighted average shall be greater than the treshold value S = 21 the first year, then the treshold will raise up of 0,5 each year.

So:

  • S = 21,5 mandatory for September 2018 or March 2019;
  • S = 22 mandatory for September 2019 or March 2020;
  • S = 22,5 mandatory for September 2020 or March 2021;

The coefficient k=0,5 will be introduced starting from academic year 2021 / 2022.

Please read carefully paragraph 6 of the Educational Rules; if you have still doubts after the reading, don’t hesitate and contact us.

Project Course

A ranking will be made based on the CFU and average grades. Students who are in a position to graduate at the end (based on missing CFU) will be privileged.
the project address is assigned according to the ranking. If it turns out that the address you put as your first choice is already full, you will come
assigned to the other. If this happens, it’s not a drama: they’ll tell you to make a small change in your curriculum and select the Project Course to which they reassigned you.

Theoretically you should be contacted from the secretariat, to tell you to change the PdS with the other project course.

In case you still miss many CFU, you will be given a low score and it is likely that
you’ll end up at the bottom of the list. At this stage you will not be assigned any Project Course, and you will need to redo the request the next semester (you will receive a new form to fill out).
If you have a low average but perfectly on par with CFU, then it is possible that they will not be able to please your preference, but still you will have the opportunity to be assigned to a project.

The working groups can be chosen by you students and you will agree to make groups of 2-3 (sometimes 4) students, but the way by which they assign the topic to your group depends on the teacher of the project course. Sometimes it is by random extraction, other times they make you choose 4-5 topics from a list, then they try to please you as far as possible.

You will receive the new instructions in September of the next academic year, don’t worry

If you have been assigned a Project Course, then you and your group will work on it this semester. The presentation of the project will take place at the first graduation session useful to graduate the first of your group graduating.

Once you start it, the project doesn’t “expire.” The work done in the Project Course it should not be “lost”, but once done, it remains “saved in your career” and the credits will be recognized at the time of your graduation.
You may be required to do additional work on the same project, such as an in-depth study, in case you exceed a certain threshold of delay in graduation which is usually a year.

The main difference is in the search areas.  Projects on biomechanics, Biomaterials, Cells and Tissues are under the “IND” category, while the Projects concerning Computer Science and Electronics
fall under the “INF” category.

No, it is not a problem, because in any case what matters is the result of the ranking, which will be
taken into account the weighted average of the exams and the cfu achieved

You can chose one of the following options:

1) If you’re still in time to do the Half-Yearly Editing of the PdS, you can:
a. Delete the PROJECT Course [INDUSTRIAL] from your PdS
b. Enter, as Self-Contained Teaching, the PROJECT Course [INFORMATION] (Code
099275)
Warning: it must be chosen as Self-contained teaching, and NOT as a Supernumber,
because over-the-number exams do not contribute to average, while the self-employed do.
2) If the time window is still open to do the Half-Yearly Change of the PdS, but you do not want to modify  your PdS by yourself, then write to the voicemail chat, explain the problem and they
they should solve it quietly.
3) If the deadline for the Six-Monthly Amendment of the PdS has already passed, contact Professor Cimolin (Referent for PdS for the Biomedical Engineering Triennial). She will fix the study plan.
If for some reason you find yourself in a particular situation and you can’t follow any of the
previous suggestions, we recommend that you write to Professor Constantine, Coordinator of the
Studies: she will be able to give you more specific advice.

Erasmus 

ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System, it is the unit of measurement to compare Italian CFU to credits from other universities around Europe

Yes, you can be sorted in all the next lists. Pay attention to the dates that you can find on the Erasmus call and, as soon as the next list is released, check your situation on the International Mobility page. You don’t need to do anything special, just check the outcome every time the list comes out.

No, it doesn’t. You can apply for both and later choose one or the other without having any kind of penalization in your application score (as it happens if you first refuse an Erasmus/Double Degree experience and the next year you apply for another Erasmus experience)

 

No, for Chicago they only look at the grade average, that must be higher than 24. 

Useful Links

Following a list of useful links to have more detailed and additional informations about the study course and the proposed activities by Politecnico.

Politecnico di Milano: Official website of Politecnico di Milano.

School of Industrial and Informaion Engineering: The school coordinates the teaching activities for most of the Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano, covering a vast cultural area.

CCS Biomedical: Site of the course of biomedical engineering studies where you can find in-depth information on many topics of interest to enrolled students and future students of the course.

DEIB: The Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB) carries out advanced multidisciplinary research in automatic, bioengineering, electronics, electrotechnics, information technology and telecommunications.

IEEE: IEEE is a professional association that develops, defines, and reviews electronics and computer science standards. Its mission is “to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity”.

Passion in action: “Passion in Action” is a catalogue of open participation teaching activities that the Politecnico offers to students to support the development of transversal, soft and social skills and to encourage/facilitate students in enriching their personal, cultural and professional experience.

National Bioengineering Group: GNB – National Bioengineering Group is a non-profit, scientific-cultural association. The association has scientific, cultural, informative, and social goals aimed at promoting, sponsoring, and coordinating studies, research, and debates on bioengineering. GNB mission it to represent the Italian national scientific community that recognizes itself in bioengineering among partner subjects or stakeholders such as the Ministries, universities and research institutes, the national health system, the industrial and entrepreneurial partners and the international scientific community. The GNB aims to promote and coordinate research and training activities in the Bioengineering sector carried out in Italy at universities, public and private research institutes, and other public authorities.

SiROP: SiROP is a web portal scientist use to post their open positions and theses online. Students can search by scientific topic and apply online. SiROP has created collaborations with various universities including the IDEA League group, which includes the universities: Politecnico of Milano, Delft University of Technology, ETH Zürich, RWTH Aachen University, and Chalmers University of Technology.