The number of College undergraduate and MSc sudents achieving - or failing to achieve - the EDiSU threshold for confirmation of College placements is shown in the Fig Examination Results 2013. percentage of MSc students achieving EdISU requirements was stable: 87% in 2013/14 vs 89% in 2012/13. The major changes in student's performance and statistics across the latest academic year, therefore, concerned undergraduate students. 94% of the College undergraduates study Courses in the Schools of Science & Maths, Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine (the College warmly welcomes students from the Humanities and Social Sciences but few of its undergraduates currently read such subjects) and the second figure on the left shows the percentage of students in each School that met EdISU requirements. This increased from 40% in 2012/13 to 67% in 2013/14 for Sciences & Maths; from 33% in 2012/13 to 80% in 2013/14 for Engineering and from 80% in 2012/13 to 100% in 2013/14 for Medicine. In contrast, the data for Pharmaceutical Sciences appeared stable (75% in 2012/13, 80% in 2013/14). Notably, the students falling behind with EdISU requirements in Science & Maths are students in Maths and Physics, two groups of students closest to the heart of this College. Thus extra steps will be taken by Volta in 2014/15 in order to ensure that all students reading Maths & Physics may complete their undergraduate Courses smoothly.
Collegio Volta expressed critical views last year on the criteria utilised by EdISU bodies - nationwide - for assessing students performance. The College strongly believes that the procedures for student's assessment ought to change and improve across EdISU Colleges in Pavia and elsewhere in Italy and that, likewise, admission procedures need to put considerably more weight on previous academic career and student's motivations toward College life. This notwithstanding, College is delighted to see that in the short period of a year Volta has achieved a major leap forward in students performance, attributable to harder work and a series of actions aimed at instituting and developing College teaching.
