Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can students adapt to the English teaching mode? Do they need to learn Italian?

All specialized courses are taught in English, and there is no need to learn Italian. The students admitted to the Joint School of Design and Innovation (XJTU-POLIMI School) are excellent in English, so it is not a problem for them to adapt to the English teaching environment step by step. In addition, we will offer academic English courses, instead of ordinary College English, to students majoring in Architecture and Industrial Design respectively from the first year of college. The School has made an advanced English improvement plan for students. On the basis of bilingual teaching of general courses and basic courses in the first year of college, the School will assign senior language teachers to enhance students’ English skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing, create an intrusive English learning environment, and gradually improve students’ English proficiency, so as to meet the requirements of bilingual teaching and English teaching in senior grades.

2. What are the differences between the majors of the XJTU-POLIMI School and thesamemajors of other schools?

The School is a Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run school and a non-independent legal entity, as well as a normal secondary college affiliated to Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU). It is a new model of international talent cultivation which combines the international influence and advanced cultivation ideas of Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) with the excellent educational conditions and quality of XJTU in the same majors. The Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run school lays particular emphasis on the deep cooperation and connection with the foreign university, with 71% of the core specialized courses of Architecture and 51.8% of the core specialized courses of Industrial Design taught by teachers of POLIMI, and aims to cultivate internationally competent, interdisciplinary, and innovative design professionals through win-win cooperation.

3. Do students of the XJTU-POLIMI School enjoy the same treatment as students of other schools in terms of policies such as postgraduate recommendation?

Students of the XJTU-POLIMI School enjoy the same opportunities as the ordinary students of XJTU in terms of on-campus study, graduation, postgraduate recommendation, postgraduate examination, overseas study, and employment. Moreover, they will have a broader space for further study since the School absorbs the educational advantages of the two universities.

4. Can students of the XJTU-POLIMI School transfer to other majors?

Students may change majors within the School, but are not allowed to transfer to other majors in other schools.

1. Students already enjoy the admission to separately listed majors of the dedicated program at the time of enrollment.

2. The management of student status is determined by both parties through negotiation. Chinese and Italian dual student status management will be implemented after admission of students and shall not be changed at will.

5. Are there any opportunities for students of the XJTU-POLIMI School to go abroad for exchange?

The XJTU-POLIMI School adopts the cultivation mode of “T+0”, that is, students will study in XJTU during their undergraduate years. Nevertheless, during this period, students can choose to participate in various university-level and school-level overseas exchange programs between XJTU and more than 300 university partners around the world, including POLIMI, according to their actual needs.

6. What are the conditions for dual enrollment?

Students majoring in Industrial Design will be automatically enrolled as students of POLIMI after getting 18 credits of specialized courses. Students majoring in Architecture can be enrolled as students of POLIMI after passing the Italian entrance exam forarchitecture. The exam language is English, and there are multiple opportunities for the exam. The School offers training for the Italian entrance exam for architecture students, who will be tutored by POLIMI teachers to ensure that they pass the exam.

7. What are the career plans and employment directions of the two majors?

The major of Industrial Design has a relatively wide employment range, and it is fair to say that industrial design can play a role no matter whether it is in the Internet industry or oriented to state-owned enterprises or manufacturing. According to the previous employment situation of industrial design, some students went to the Internet industry, some went to large enterprises like Haier and Midea, and some went to banks, because some of them were engaged in interface design, some in product development, and some in service planning. Industrial design is an interdisciplinary discipline which has a flexible way of communication and coordination in art or between design and manufacturing, so many enterprises are in urgent need of industrial design talents, and nowadays, a large number of industrial design graduates choose to engage in product R&D, interface design, and interactive experience inthe realms ofartificial intelligence and the Internet.

What about the employment direction of students majoring in Architecture? After graduation, nearly 30% of students majoring in Architecture of XJTU are recommended or admitted to study as postgraduate students, and about 30% go abroad for further study. Postgraduate students usually choose XJTU and eight universities famous for architecture, including Tsinghua University, Tongji University, and Southeast University, and students who go abroad for further study can generally obtain the offers of famous foreign universities, e.g., Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, University of California-Los Angeles, and University of Michigan of the US, University College London and University of Sheffield of the UK, University of Melbourne and University of Sydney of Australia, POLIMI of Italy, and Kyoto University and Waseda University of Japan. The rest of the students have relatively diversified employment options, and they are mainly engaged in planning and design, project planning, and development management in architectural design institutes (limited-liability companies), domestic and foreign architectural design firms, urban and rural planning and design institutes, urban construction management departments, and real estate development companies in medium and large cities. As the architecture major of XJTU has passed the architectural professional evaluation of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development of China, students can obtain the Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture upon graduation and are more likely to be recognized by employers when finding jobs.

8. What certificates will students get upon graduation?

“Double degree” and “dual enrollment” of XJTU and POLIMI are offered. Students who successfully complete all the courses and pass the exam will receive the Diploma and the Bachelor’s Degree Certificate issued by XJTU and the Bachelor’s Degree Certificate issued by POLIMI, and the certificates are the same as those of ordinary students of both universities. Besides, the architecture undergraduate diploma of POLIMI has a hidden function: according to the EU laws, anyone who wants to work as an architect in the EU countries must has an undergraduate diploma recognized by the EU; in other words, this certificate has the function as a professional qualification certificate.