Study Abroad in Rome: Academics
This program is designed for students who wish to study art history, communications, economics, history, international relations, Italian language, literature, marketing, philosophy or political science. Minimum 2.5 GPA required. No previous knowledge of Italian is required.
Students must enroll in the language orientation program in Florence prior to study in Rome.
Class time
Classes meet for three weeks in Florence plus 12 weeks in Rome. Attendance and participation in classes are required. Classes are held Monday through Friday. Attendance is required for all courses. Students who accumulate more than the permitted number of absences, regardless of the reason, must withdraw from the course, or will receive an attendance failure. In courses that meet twice a week, students may not have more than four absences.
Credits
Equal to American units, each credit is based on a minimum of 15 classroom or 25 studio hours plus home study (or the equivalent in independent research or tutorials). One class hour equals 50 minutes. Final exams are generally given in all courses during the last week. Students should register for a minimum of nine and a maximum of 13 credits. This is in addition to the three credits in Florence. Exams cannot be rescheduled for any reason.
Grades
All classes will have a term paper, mid-term and final exam. In the Richmond system, grades are numerically calculated on a grade point average (GPA) scale. Courses may not be taken on a pass/fail basis.
| Excellent work | A, 4.0 | A-, 3.7 | |||
| Above satisfactory work | B+, 3.3 | B, 3.0 | B-, 2.7 | ||
| Satisfactory work | C+, 2.3 | C, 2.0 | C-, 1.7 | ||
| Below satisfactory work | D+, 1.3 | D, 1.0 | D-, 0.7 | ||
| Fail | F, 0 |
Libraries
The Richmond Study Center has a selection of books related to Richmond courses available for student reference at no extra charge, although a $20 deposit is required to check-out books. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the extensive library collections available to them in Rome.
Schedules
Students may encounter scheduling conflicts, as more than one course may be offered at the same time of day.
Student advising
Students meet with the Resident Director during orientation in Florence as well as in Rome before the semester begins. The Resident Director provides academic advising and serves as liaison between students, Richmond and Rome instructors.
Transcripts
Transcripts are prepared by the Richmond Registrar’s Office, Richmond, The American International University in London, Queen’s Road, Richmond, Surrey TW10 6JP. One official copy of the transcript will be mailed to you free of charge.
Additional official transcript copies may be obtained from the Richmond Registrar’s Office by using the Transcript Request Form, which is also located on the Richmond website, http://www.richmond.ac.uk/. This form should be printed, signed and mailed or faxed to the Registrar’s Office. There is a fee of £5 per transcript, plus an additional fee of £15 if courier service is requested. (Courrier service will take 2-3 business days; regular mail will take 2-3 weeks.) Address, fax number, and fee details are on the request form.
An end-of-term grade report will be sent to the home address on your application.
Attendance
Attendance and particiption in classes are required.
