Columbia and the University of Bologna will offer dual engineering degrees

University of Bologna engineering dean Pier Paolo Diotallevi and SEAS dean Feniosky Peña-Mora recently signed an accord between their schools. / Photo: Eileen Barroso The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) has established a dual-degree exchange program with the University of Bologna that will prepare civil engineering students from each institution to work in both the United States and Europe.

Starting in the fall of 2010, students in the program will spend one year at Columbia and one year at the University of Bologna, earning a master’s degree in civil engineering from each of the two universities. The institutions are expecting to exchange 10 students each that initial year.

A degree from the University of Bologna gives engineers the credentials to work anywhere in Europe. “The codes and regulations are different here than in Europe,” says SEAS civil engineering professor Raimondo Betti. “We would like the chance for our students to go there and obtain a degree valid throughout the EU.”

The dual-degree program evolved from a collaboration between Betti and University of Bologna professor Francesco Ubertini, who have brought Italian students to Columbia since 2003, as part of the Honors Center of Italian Universities program, or H2CU. This new partnership will allow SEAS students to study in Italy for the first time.