Elective courses

During the BA in International Politics, Law and Economics, students have to take 12 ects in elective courses. Starting from the second year, with the approval of the study plan, it is possible to choose among different options provided by the University, included language courses, as long as consistent with the study plan. 

It is not mandatory to choose courses taught in English, although we strongly suggest to choose amongst those offered within IPLE in the other curriculum.

As a general rule, students should pay attention to the following criteria:

1. Normally, if a course is offered by the Faculty of Political, Economic and Social Sciences (SPES), it is not necessary to obtain any authorisation (see, however, points 4 and 5). You may even choose MA courses, but in that event you are strongly encouraged to contact professors in advance, and check with them if specific skills are required in order to attend the course or take the exam.
2. If a course is offered by another Faculty, students should write to iple@unimi.it to be sure that these exams can be considered consistent with their study plans. Usually, if it is a course in humanities, there are no issues arising (exceptions made for points 4 and 5); to avoid the risk of taking exams that can’t be recognized as elective courses, students are strongly encouraged to contact the tutors in advance.
3. Students are allowed to choose language courses only if it is not their mother language, and the level is higher than a) the level already required by the IPLE  programme, and b) the level that students have already achieved by taking other elective courses. For instance, students cannot take any other B2-level English courses, since it is IPLE’s entry level. If a student has taken the French language assessment (B1), she will be allowed to choose only B2-level French course as elective credits, etc. This rule applies to all languages taught in the Faculty.
4. Students are not allowed to take elective courses that are comparable to courses already included in the IPLE study plan, whether they are offered by SPES Faculty or by other Faculties. For instance, it is not possible to take “Sistemi politici e amministrativi” from MAP and LAM or “‘Politica, istituzioni e sviluppo’” from GLO, because they are analogous to “Political Science”. Similarly, IPLE students are not allowed to take “Istituzioni di diritto pubblico e privato” from LAM because they already have to take “Public Law”. The same goes for “Storia del mondo contemporaneo” from GLO, because it is comparable to “Contemporary History”.
5. This rule obviously applies also to the Italian versions of courses that IPLE students need to take in English (e.g. Sistemi sociali comparati, Scienza politica, Microeconomia, Statistica, Logica, ecc.). The general and basic rule is that students are not allowed to choose elective courses that replicate contents already included in their study plan (even if programmes and materials are different).  When in doubt, students should first write to iple@unimi.it
6. If you choose a course which is not mandatory in any programme taught at SPES, but it is explicitely conceived for the elective credits like several 3-cfu courses/labs offered by IPLE.