Visas and health insurance

Earlier this week we published a post in which we asked our readers to take part in a survey that will help us improve our journal. Some readers have already responded with very useful feedback. Thank you.

We hope more readers will give their opinion to help us get better. To receive the link to the survey, please send an email to admissions@jhubc.it.

As the title of this post suggests, today we'll tackle visa and health insurance --important matters for students coming from outside the European Union.

Non-E.U. citizens should have received a visa request letter from the Bologna or the Washington Admissions Offices. If you have not received your letter yet, please send us a note at admissions@jhubc.it - we'll make sure you get a copy as soon as possible.

Visa applications are fairly straightforward. You can find information on the website of the Italian embassy of your home country. However, some embassies require information that may not be in the letter we provide. Is this your case? If yes, please get in touch with us as soon as you can. We'll be happy to help.

Upon completion of your application, you should be granted a type-D visa for study purposes (visto per motivi di studio). You should ensure that you receive a multiple-entry visa to Italy and the Schengen area for the duration of your stay. If this is not the case, please contact us.

Health insurance is another important matter for non-E.U. citizens. Even if you feel as healthy as a fiddle, you should make sure you come to Bologna with a good health insurance plan. This will help you save money in case you need medical assistance.

We strongly recommend that you also sign up for the Italian emergency health insurance, which will be useful in the event you are taken to hospital. The Registrar’s Office will provide the application form when you get to Bologna.

E.U. citizens are not required to get health insurance. However, they will need to apply for a European health insurance card to have access to healthcare. In most cases you are asked to complete a form, which you can find online.

Got any questions? You know where to find us.

Amina Abdiuahab

What are some SAIS alumni up to?

What do SAIS students do after they graduate?

That's an important question for prospective applicants, incoming students and current SAISers alike. A SAIS education is a major commitment, and our students are keen for a return on their investment.

Here is a report on the types of jobs last year's graduates took up; we featured the report in a post in May. You'll see that graduates tackled a wide variety of jobs around the world -- not surprising for a multidisciplinary program like ours.

Sometimes examples speak louder than aggregate data. Here are some SAIS graduates who have figured recently in the SAIS Bologna Admissions' Twitter feed (@SAISBolognaBlog):

Thora Arnorsdottir
 with her husband and children

Thora Arnorsdottir, who attended SAIS Bologna in 2002-03 and graduated from SAIS the following year, is running to be president of Iceland.

U.S. Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, has sent a warning to Syria's military via the embassy's Facebook page. Ford graduated from SAIS in 1983.

Timothy Geithner, taking time out from his duties as U.S. Treasury secretary, addressed SAIS graduates last month. Geithner finished SAIS in 1985.

Fabrizio Jacobellis, who finished SAIS in 2003, was named best professor by SAIS Bologna's class of 2012 -- the third time the adjunct professor of international economics has won the award.

Amb. Roberto Toscano

Zach Messitte, who attended SAIS Bologna before graduating from SAIS in 1996, has been named president of Ripon College in Wisconsin state.

President Barack Obama recently named SAIS graduates to be U.S. ambassadors to Cyprus and Bulgaria.

Professors Erik Jones and Michael Plummer, both of whom attended SAIS Bologna, have been busy teaching and publishing.

Roberto Toscano, who attended SAIS before distinguishing himself in Italy's diplomatic service as ambassador to India and Iran, addressed SAIS Bologna's end-of-year ceremony.

Nelson Graves

Please take part in our survey

This journal -- our name for this blog -- has been up and running for 18 months. We are just shy of 100,000 page views. It's time to take stock of how we are doing.

Help us get better:
participate in our survey

We have put together an online survey to help us better understand who you are, what works and what needs improving. It takes 3-5 minutes to complete and is anonymous. The results will help us make our work more relevant to the needs of our readers: prospective candidates, applicants, incoming students, current students, faculty, staff and alumni.

If you would like to take part in the survey or know someone who would, please send an email to admissions@jhubc.it and we will send you the link to the survey.

We'd like to collect a critical mass of responses by mid-July. Then we will publish a summary of the results and our action plan.

Nelson Graves

New application deadline: January 7, 2013

A very short post today to make a very simple point:

The deadline for applications for the 2013-14 academic year is January 7, 2013.

Mark it on your calendar

This date is a tad earlier than SAIS Bologna's traditional deadline. It means candidates will learn the outcome of their applications a bit earlier. It also means advance planning will pay off. Remember: the early bird gets the worm.

Although we will be touching on all elements of the application in coming months, we are happy to answer questions, whether or not you have decided to apply. You can always reach us at admissions@jhubc.it.

We will be cutting back on the number of posts in July, when our readership tails off for the holidays. But this journal, like the Admissions Office, never goes to sleep.

Nelson Graves

English: SAIS's lingua franca

Johns Hopkins University's motto might be in Latin, but English is the lingua franca at SAIS.

"Veritas vos Liberabit" is written on the Hopkins seal -- "The Truth Will Set You Free". Latin may not be taught at SAIS, but 17 other languages are.

Still, to gain admission and then to graduate, one must master English.

We receive as many questions about the English requirements at SAIS as we do about any other subject. We'll tackle other aspects of the application in later posts, but today let's focus on English.

Prospective applicants should keep one important thing in mind: to thrive at SAIS, a student needs to read hundreds of pages a week (or even day), write long papers, follow complicated class discussions and participate actively -- all in English.

The proficiency requirements for admission are not erected to make life difficult for candidates. They are there to make sure our students can function fully and comfortably in the main language of study.

Last week we announced that our deadline for applications for 2013-14 has been moved up to January 7, 2013. That may seem a long way away, but it will soon be at hand. Now is a great time to start mapping your strategy; for non-native English speakers, that can mean thinking about English competency exams.

How do we define "native English speaker"? At SAIS, a native English speaker meets at least two of the following three criteria:

• English is the main language of communication between you and one of your caregivers;
• English is an official language in the community where you grew up (before high school);
• English is the language of instruction in the high school you attended.

If you do not meet at least two of these criteria, you will have to submit the results of one of these tests:

• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
• International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
• Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)

N.B. If you completed a full undergraduate degree program in English, in an English-speaking country, you are exempt from this rule. Note that it has to be a full degree in an English-speaking country. It is not enough to do a full degree in English in a country where English is not an official language. Or part of a degree in an English-speaking country.

The minimum scores for admission are 100 on TOEFL's Internet-based test, 7.0 on IELTS's academic test and any passing grade on the CPE.

Because these tests may be unfamiliar, you might want to consider taking them more than once to maximize your chances of doing well. If that is the case, you still have time between now and our January 7 application deadline to take the test twice.

Depending on their results, admitted candidates who are non-native English speakers may be required or advised to take intensive English in pre-term.

Then at the beginning of the Fall semester, all non-native English speakers must take the reading and writing sections of the SAIS English Proficiency exam. Those who do not perform satisfactorily will be required to take the Advanced English course or the English Writing workshop.

Finally, non-native speakers must prove their English proficiency to receive some of the SAIS degrees. Why would SAIS  test one's command of English if proficiency is required for admission? That is because SAIS makes sure its graduates are fluent in the vernacular of international relations.

The exit requirements are quite complicated. To read chapter and verse, consult this two-page summary.

Mini quiz for the linguists among you: What does the abbreviation "N.B." (used above) stand for?

Nelson Graves

Quiz!

It's been a while since we held a quiz. With the academic year over at SAIS Bologna and summer on the way, it seems natural to have a bit of fun.

The first person to answer the question correctly will receive a SAIS Bologna tee shirt. To win, you need to tell us who you are. You can send in your answer either by commenting on this post or with an email to admissions@jhubc.it

So here we go:


I ride a broomstick and deliver sweets and gifts to children on the eve of the day before the new deadline for applications to SAIS Bologna.


Who am I?

 

At the heart of SAIS Bologna: the Library

Most SAIS Bologna students spend at least 15 hours a week there. They are surrounded by one of the continent’s biggest English-language collections in the field of international relations.

Much has changed since SAIS Bologna was founded in 1955. But the Robert H. Evans Library, named after the Center's director from 1992-2003, remains a focal point of any student's work.

Then ...

Gail Martin, the head librarian, has worked here for 30 years. Originally from Bishopbriggs in Scotland, she earned a degree in library studies in Brighton before coming to Bologna. "It seems I have an irresistible attraction for living in towns that begin with 'B'," she said before answering our questions.

Q: How big is the library? How many volumes does it have?
Martin: The library occupies 1,000 square meters of the building, seats around 180 students and is located on the left-hand “wing” of the school. We have a collection of approximately 85,000 volumes, and the library was completely remodeled in 2005. Here’s a link to our catalog.

... and now

Q: Is there something distinctive/unique about the library?
Martin: The building itself is a beautiful example of the work of Enzo Zacchiroli, a famous Bolognese architect. Here you can read a little about it.

Something distinctive about our collection? Amongst other things, we have an excellent collection of English-language materials on Italian government and politics, and our open stacks are quite unusual, here in Italy.

Q: What are the most common ways that students use the library?
Martin: Students often stop off in the library in the morning to quickly check their email before dashing off to class or to drop off their reserve books before they become overdue. The circulation desk gets really busy after classes as students drop off and pick up reserve, or short-loan, books.

Gail Martin

Then in the evenings and at weekends students settle down for long-haul study, either on the ground floor study room or on the mezzanine floor upstairs. Students also come by for one-on-one research assistance with Ludovica, who holds workshops at the beginning of each semester, and before exams begin.

Q: Does anyone know how much time the average students spends in the library?
Martin: Our latest year-end student survey tells us that 45% of the respondents spent up to 15 hours a week in the library, 45% spent from 15-30 hours a week and 10% more than 30 hours.

Q: What is the policy for taking out books? Fines?
Martin: We have three main collection types:

• Reference books and periodicals, which are for library use only.
• General circulation books are housed in the open stacks in the basement. SAIS Bologna students can have as many of these books as they need, for a loan period of one month. They are subject to recall by another student, but you are guaranteed two weeks checkout before we ask you to bring the book back.
• Reserve books are kept behind the circulation desk. This is a non-browseable collection and consists of the books that have been designated required readings for your courses. We purchase them in multiple copies, and they are loaned for 4 hours or overnight. Students can borrow two reserve items at a time, and we also have a "hold" function that allows you to book a reserve reading in advance. We don’t charge fines for overdue reserve books, as we discovered that some students just kept the books and paid the fine, so the reserve system risked collapsing. Instead we devised a penalty scheme, which works far better and helps the reserve system function smoothly and fairly for everyone. We also have an electronic reserves system, called CIAO (Course Items Available Online), which gives 24/7, password-controlled access to syllabi, some required readings and class notes.

Q: Do you hire students to work in the library?
Martin: Yes we do. Each year we hire 8-10 student assistants who keep the library open in the evenings and at weekends and help us with many library housekeeping jobs.

Q: Can people from outside of SAIS use the library? How much do they use it? Is it difficult to find a quiet place to work?
Martin: During the week, from 9 am until 7 pm, the library is open to the general public. Some users come by to browse, read the newspapers or check out books, then they leave. Others spend a few hours studying, but those are in the minority, though we have one user who has been coming almost every weekday for the past 20 years.

Gail Martin with her library staff:
 Maria Christina Marcich, Heather Kochevar, John Williams & Ludovica Barozzi

After 7 pm during the week and at weekends the library is reserved for SAIS Bologna students and faculty. There is normally no problem finding study space, though the library can get quite busy during finals.

Q: How has the library changed over the years? Do you have more changes in store?
Martin: I would say the most important change came thanks to the renovation project. Once upon a time, the book stacks were housed on the mezzanine floor, which is quite beautiful and flooded with light. Student study space was concentrated on the ground floor, which was, and still is, also very nice, and in the basement which was, quite honestly, gloomy.

When we did the reconstruction work, all the book stacks were shifted from the mezzanine down to the basement, and student study space was brought up to the mezzanine and into the light!

More changes? I can see us moving more and more towards electronic provision of materials over the next couple of years. Things are changing so quickly and it’s very exciting.

Q: How many books are you adding every year? What about periodicals?
Martin: Every year we add around 1,000 new books to the collection and though we continue to take some periodicals in hard copy, the trend now is for students and faculty to consult electronic versions of periodicals via the various databases that we have access to.

Questions? Send an email to library@jhubc.it.

Nelson Graves