Prerequisites for admission.

Considering the scientific and vocational value of the 2nd cycle degree programme in Chemical Sciences, admission to the programme in class LM 54 is subject to the possession of an appropriate command of the general methods and contents of basic scientific disciplines and chemistry, in preparation for the core subjects included in the 2nd cycle degree programme.
Admission to the 2nd cycle degree programme in Chemical Sciences at the University of Modena and RE is subject to the following curricular requirements:
1) a degree in which the specific learning outcomes comply with the contents of the Eurobachelor programme approved for Chemistry;
2) a minimum number of ECTS divided between Mathematics, Physics, Computing and Chemistry.
The minimum number of ECTS and their allocation to the various subjects, as well as the minimum grades, shall be indicated in the degree programme teaching regulation. (http://www.unimore.it/hreg/SmfnLM54ScChimiche.pdf)
Personal competencies and skills are assessed on the basis of the student's previous academic careers, tests or interviews following a written application made prior to enrolment. Enrolment to the 2nd cycle degree programme is possible only for candidates who have passed the test.
If the degree does not meet the first curricular requirement, the board will assess the candidates' previous career and the possibility to achieve the learning outcomes of the programme following an individual study plan, before proceeding with any tests or interviews.

Skills associated with the function

"Dottore Magistrale" in Chemical Sciences: in charge of research and development activities, management of chemical laboratories and production sites.
The right balance of basic competences acquired and practical skills allow graduates to coordinate working groups operating directly in complex facilities, producing test reports, scientific and technical papers and publications. In particular 2nd cycle graduates will know how to:
- use modern methods of instrumental analysis and manage laboratory instrumentation.
- Design and conduct qualitative and quantitative characterisation activities on products and materials including the activities linked to the preparation of samples.
- They are able to develop and design reaction paths, including scale-up phases, for the synthesis of chemical substances and new organic or inorganic materials.
- process data and use a modelling approach to develop composition and property or structure and property models to forecast the behaviour of complex systems using chemical and computational methods.

Function in a work context

"Dottore Magistrale" in Chemical Sciences: in charge of research and development activities, management of chemical laboratories and production sites.
2nd cycle graduates in Chemical Sciences can hold mainly technical and managerial roles involving decision-making autonomy, with a high degree of responsibility for projects and facilities. In particular, they may cover positions in research and development, quality assurance and production control.

Educational goals

The curriculum provides appropriate knowledge of the advanced experimental and theoretical aspects of the 4 key sectors of Chemistry (analytical SSD CHIM01, chemical-physical SSD CHIM02, inorganic SSD CHIM03, organic SSD CHIM06), as well as Mineralogy. Particular attention is paid to the use of disciplinary methodologies of investigation and the practical areas of interest to the local production world.
In particular graduates must have the:
- ability to design and run chemical protocols, based on conventional and innovative problem-solving models;
- ability to produce formally and substantially rigorous written reports concerning the activities undertaken in the laboratory;
- ability to work with a high degree of decision-making autonomy, covering roles of responsibility, organising working groups as project-leader to manage and coordinate R&D groups and teams;
- ability to use the English language in both written and spoken form, in the specific area of competence and generally to exchange information;
- appropriate competences and methodological tools for the communication and management of chemical information;
- experimental chemical skills to organise and manage synthesis, characterisation and quality control laboratories;
- useful competences for determining the chemical structure of matter and describe the structure of crystalline and amorphous substances;
- ability to apply mathematical and statistical tools to process data and interpret the results, knowledge of the computational methods for interpreting and forecasting the behaviour of complex systems, including biological, inorganic, organic and hybrid systems;
- knowledge of the evaluation methodologies for technology transfers and scale-ups from laboratory synthesis to industrial process.
- the competences required to use bibliographical and ICT instruments.
The competences and skills acquired personally by the students at the end of the programme include a solid knowledge base of common and transversal skills in the four main subject areas (CHIM/01, CHIM/02, CHIM/03, CHIM/06). This knowledge is gains in 4 mandatory common course units (worth 12 ECTS each), covering the 4 identified areas. This common foundation is then used as a basis for all the core elective course units (24 ECTS in type "b"; 12 ECTS in type "c"; 9 ECTS in type "d"; 3 ECTS in type "e"). The choices made in the study plan allow:
- students to diversify their training according to their own elective choices,
- 2nd cycle graduates to offer specific and differentiated characteristics on the labour market, which together with other credentials developed during their customised curriculum can significantly increase their objective and subjective competitive performance.

Communication skills

The communication skills demanded from future Chemical Sciences graduates particularly concern the ability to:
- communicate the results of their activities in oral and written form, being able to discuss them rationally and unambiguously;
- interact effectively with specialist and non-specialist audiences, even in different sectors, to understand the specific requirements to implement chemical interventions;
- effectively, clearly and comprehensibly describe information, ideas, problems and solutions as well as the technical aspects of a chemical context;
- train collaborators, coordinate and participate in working groups, plan and deliver training
in chemical , technical and regulatory fields;
- communicate effectively and fluently in Italian in topics of interest, with a command of both written and spoken language, also referring to the specific terminology and where required using multimedia tools;
- transmit the knowledge acquired for teaching and dissemination of the scientific culture.
Written and oral communication skills are assessed in the exams at the end of each course unit, as well as the final dissertation, produced by the students at the end of the programme and discussed before the final examination board in public session.

Particularly concerning communication skills in English, in addition to the certification of level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, students may also obtain a higher level in the course units offered under the programme (3 ECTS for advanced technical English), and sit some exams in English at our university, through course units delivered in English, or abroad, thanks to the possibilities afforded by Internationalisation Programmes (Erasmus, etc.).
From AY 12/13, fully in line with the indications issued by the Academic Bodies (SA, CDA) to increase the University's internationalisation processes, the programme has chosen to deliver 2 elective course units in the English language:
- Chemometrics, SSD CHIM/01, Prof. Marina Cocchi;
- Bioinorganic Chemistry, SSD CHIM/03, professor: Prof. Gianantonio Battistuzzi.
This choice not only produces positive effects on the process of international cultural exchange and integration, but also has immediate effects on the students' personal capacities for interaction, increasing their communication skills in a foreign language and capitalising on a learning experience which is certainly higher than average.
Moreover, all students, and particularly those on international mobility programmes spending time abroad for an internship, have the possibility to produce their 2nd cycle dissertation in the English language.

Making Judgements

Future 2nd cycle graduates in Chemical Sciences are required to:
- critically assess their own knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as their results;
- discuss their own dissertation scientifically, correctly expressing their own opinions;
- be able to manage the complexity of an intercultural chemical context;
- be able to make judgements based on incomplete or limited information,
- be able to develop person thought and ethical responsibility;
- analyse chemical problems and propose alternative technical solutions;
- assess the impact of the proposed solutions in a practical context, in both technical and organisational terms;
- assess the economic implications, social and ethical impacts associated to the identified solutions;
- demonstrate an active participation in decision making processes, even in interdisciplinary contexts.
The 2nd cycle degree programme in Chemical Sciences sets out to provide students with appropriate methodological and operational tools to be able to autonomously and objectively tackle the typical problems of the design and implementation of chemical operations, being able to welcome the innovative challenges deriving from rapid scientific, technological and regulatory developments in Chemistry.
The ability to make judgements is assessed through:
- assessment of the course units in the students’ personal study programme;
- the level of autonomy and ability to work individually during laboratory activities in the relative course units;
- the ability to work in groups for research activities undertaken during the production of the dissertation.

Learning skills

Future Chemical Sciences graduates
are required to have developed:
- learning skills allowing them to continue their studies autonomously and using self-oriented choices, assuming responsibility for their own professional and cultural development;
- specialist learning skills required to undertake higher studies, including 2nd level masters, PhD programmes and post-graduate scientific research;
- learning skills to effectively tackle changing professional problems linked to the innovation of technological and instrumental platforms (laboratories, control systems, production technologies, etc.) in the chemical context;
- ability to recognise self-learning and lifelong learning needs throughout their careers, given the high degree of technological and methodological innovation in the chemical field;
- ability to autonomously acquire new specialist knowledge from the technical and scientific literature of this sector, both in the topics studies in the programme and in other areas of Chemistry;
Learning skills are assessed:
- in the analysis of the students' careers,
- in the course units, particularly those with seminars and those requiring bibliographical research to pass the exam;
- in the grades obtained in the exams and the time spent between attending the course unit and passing the relative exam,
- through the ability to study and the self-learning skills demonstrated in the production of the dissertation, - in the production and discussion of the dissertation.

Knowledge and understanding

1 - ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY (CHIM/01)
Know and understand:
- key instrumental analytical techniques for different spectroscopic, separative, electrochemical and electroanalytical classes, MS techniques, surface analysis microscopic techniques.
- hyphenated techniques.
- descriptive statistics, chemiometric methods for processing and interpreting data, analytical signals and responses of hyphenated techniques.
- quality control methods applied to industrial processes and products (PAT).
- problems of diagnostic analysis and conservation in Cultural Heritage. -


2 - PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY (CHIM/02)
Know and understand the physico-chemical properties of substances and materials in different states of aggregation, including amorphous and crystalline solids.
- Know and understand the experimental measuring methods of the physico-chemical properties of real systems; be able to process and interpret the data obtained.
- Know and understand the fundamental aspects of spectroscopic and molecular techniques.
- Know and understand the foundations of the main computational methods based on quantum and classical mechanics
- Know and understand the "function-structure" and "property-structure" relationships including the theoretical and practical methods for determining them.


3 - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY (CHIM/03)
Know and understand the methods of synthesis, the chemical/electronic structure and the main chemical/physical properties of metal ion-based compounds and inorganic substances.
- Know and understand the effects of chemical transformations on the chemical/electronic structure and properties of metal ion-based compounds and inorganic substances.
- Know and understand the relations existing between the chemical/electronic structure of some inorganic materials and the macroscopic properties of key technological interest (e.g., magnetism, electrical conductivity, superconductivity).
- Know and understand the main problems linked to the evaluation of risk factors of hazardous chemical substances.


4 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY (CHIM/06)
Know and understand the chemical structure of carbon compounds and their molecular reactivity.
- Know and understand the methodologies of synthesis of organic substances.
- Know and understand the evaluation of laboratory synthesis and the problems of industrial scale-up.
- Know and understand the theories and interpretative models of experimental spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques (NMR, MS) for simple organic molecular systems.

Applying knowledge and understanding

1 - ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY (CHIM/01)
Be able to select the appropriate instrumental techniques and operational methods according to the matrix and the analytes to be determined.
- Be able to apply advanced techniques to design and run analytical protocols, with particular attention to instrumental efficiency and the quality of results.
- Be able to estimate the times, costs and resources used to achieve the intrinsic objectives of the "test report".
- Be able to model experimental analytical data and the chemical and physical properties of complex systems applying multivariate analysis methods and chemiometric techniques.
- Be able to identify mini-invasive and non-invasive operational methodologies for diagnostics applied to the study of materials, food and environmental matrices, and process monitoring.

2 - PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY (CHIM/02)
Be able to measure the physico-chemical properties of materials, in different states of aggregation.
- Be able to describe the effects of chemical transformation on the structure and properties of substances and materials, deducing the property-structure-function relationships.
- Be able to use ICT tools for bibliographical research and research in chemical databases.
- Be able to define the most appropriate computational protocols for studying the structure and surface of potential energy of molecular systems, crystalline and amorphous solids;
- Be able to calculated structural, thermodynamic and dynamic and spectroscopic properties of complex systems


3 - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY (CHIM/03)
Know how to design and implement the synthesis of molecular and non-molecular inorganic substances.
- Be able to determine and describe the chemical structure of crystalline and amorphous solids.
- Be able to determine and describe the chemical structure of simple and complex inorganic molecular systems.
- Know how to identify the most appropriate methods of synthesis and structural investigation for different classes of inorganic substances and materials.
- Be able to correlate the chemical/electronic structure with the chemical/physical properties of inorganic substances and materials.


4 - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY (CHIM/06)
Be able to describe the chemical structure of simple, medium complexity and macromolecular organic molecular systems of biological interest.
- Be able to identify the most appropriate methods of synthesis and investigation of experimental results.
- Be able to synthesise and modify the structures of organic and bio-organic substances and materials.
- Be able to solve problems of structural identification of medium complexity organic substances by interpreting spectroscopic and spectrometric data (NMR and MS).