Bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques (L-24)

Bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques – programme overview

The Bachelor’s degree in Psychology is designed to provide an understanding of human thought and behaviour through the application of psychology to different areas.
Graduates can decide whether to continue their education path by enrolling in one of the Master courses or, upon registration in section B of the Albo degli Psicologi (Order of Psychologists), work autonomously in several fields (health care institutions or with companies).
Alternatively, they can collaborate with professional psychologists, who in turn are registered in the section A of the same record.

The course allows students to develop professional skills and intervention strategies, approved by the Scientific Community.
In particular, graduates should:

• be able to analyse the different cases through an interdisciplinary approach, comparing philosophical, anthropological and sociological theories;
• know the right psychological and scientific methodologies;
• have enough first-level operational and application skills in the developmental, work, clinical and social branches of psychology;
• develop professional skills (how to conduct an interview, deliver tests, manage small groups, draft technical reports);
• be able to process data and to manage information through the use of IT tools;
• have the ability to draft technical reports or papers, in preparation for the final dissertation.

Online degree

The Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (online) is designed for those who are unable to attend a traditional education programme due to distance or professional commitments.

Through Unicusano e-learning platform, it is possible to attend the Psychology degree classes online, to study using computer storage media at home, at your own pace and take the exam at the nearest exam centre. Thanks to the teaching quality and to the broad number of authorised exams centres spread across Italy, Unicusano is today the best choice for students willing to earn an online degree in Psychology.

Job profiles

Possible job profile:

• Social reintegration technicians

The undergraduate (student with a bachelor’s degree) in Psychological Sciences and Techniques can operate in different professional contexts related to services for individuals, groups and communities as well as social, organisational and job contexts, by applying the following competences:

• assessing individual cognitive – emotional and behavioural characteristics;
• analysing work environments (human resource management) and situations associated with human resource management, job placement, role definition, job recruitment (vocational training, counselling, career design);
• design and administration of qualitative and quantitative tools aimed to describe, assess and modify personal relationships and psycho-social processes binding groups, organisations and social systems;
• the planning and implementation of activities to improve individual and group wellbeing;
• the diagnosis and redefinition of main parameters for organisation functioning, as well as contributing to solving problems regarding the quality of relationships among colleagues and work/life in the organisation (e. g. on one side hostility, autonomy, exhibitionism, on the other conflict, cooperation, communication).

Acquired competences

The undergraduate in Psychological Sciences and Techniques can operate in different professional contexts related to services for individuals, groups and communities as well as social, organisational and job context, by applying the following competences:

• administration of tests (non-diagnostic) and other standardised tools;
• protocol implementation for recruitment and valorisation of human resources and career orientation;
• administration of interviews and observation by means of qualitative and quantitative instruments;
• monitoring and assessment of professional interventions (promotion, development, reintegration, orientation and prevention);
• involvement in constructing, adapting and standardising tools for the psychological investigation;
• activities related to the psychological research process, such as collecting information, statistical data analysis and psychological data management.

Furthermore, the undergraduate can work in public and private institutional contexts and third sector like voluntary association, social cooperatives etc.

Career opportunities

The undergraduate in Psychological Sciences and Techniques can work in roles which require intervention management in the following areas:

• psychological services, developmental and paediatric neuropsychiatry, mental health department and paediatric department;
• personnel and performance assessment, specifically in relation to recruitment, role orientation, organisational development;
• counselling service for adolescents, families and only parent families;
• negotiation intervention aimed to conflict management between individuals and among groups, in order to foster cooperation and integration;
• the community of at-risk youth and juvenile probation, residential institution care, private social services and at-risk family structures, penitentiaries, etc.

The undergraduate has also the opportunity to attend the postgraduate psychology programme in order to further develop and complete the professional profile as a psychologist.

The Bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques prepares students to the following careers (ISTAT DATA):

1. technicians of social reintegration and inclusion – (3.4.5.2.0).

Entry requirements

In order to be admitted to the Bachelor’s degree in  Psychological Sciences and Techniques, the applicant must have a secondary high school level education or any other equivalent education (diploma) achieved in a foreign country. Educational qualification requested for the admission to the course of studies is determined by the extant Italian legislation. The Academic Senate, in compliance with current university regulations and Italian Law, has to decide on the equivalence of foreign degrees.
In compliance with Italian current regulations, first-year applicants should perform a test to assess their knowledge on the following three areas:

• Mathematics;
• Physics;
• Chemistry;
• Biology;
• Socio-anthropology and Epistemology.

Additional skills such as logical, numerical and verbal reasoning are also evaluated in the admission decision process. If the applicant obtains an insufficient evaluation, in order to be admitted to the university he/she has to attend specific further mandatory preliminary courses.

Applications

The University system aims to allow students to complete the university career within the legal duration of the course and to allow graduates to rapidly exercise their chosen profession. To achieve these objectives, it is also necessary that the initial knowledge of students corresponds to that provided by the Didactic Regulations of the study courses.

If the student is in possession of a previous academic degree and/or previous professional experience, the year of enrollment will be established as follows:

first year: from 1 to 59 CFU/ECTs;
second year: from 60 to 119 CFU/ECTs;
third year: from 120 to 180 CFU/ECTs.

The assessment and recognition of the credits occur within 30 days from the enrollment process.
The request can be submitted only once and is not subject to subsequent changes. In order to recognise the credits of a previous university career and/or a certified professional experience, the student must be enrolled in the Science and Techniques course with at least 3 exams and at least 24 CFU/ECTs, plus the final exam.

Educational aims, objectives and course plan outline

The main objective of this course of studies is to provide students with the basic knowledge in the field of psychological sciences, regarding both theories and methodologies of intervention. This knowledge will be integrated with relevant scientific information achieved in the wider context of human and biological sciences. In particular, this course of studies provides a formative programme that integrates aspects of basic education, focused on the acquisition of knowledge referring to diverse sectors of psychological disciplines, and methods and procedures of investigation and scientific research.

In addition, the course offers facets of pre-professionalising education, with particular regard to the acquisition of competences in the range of psychological design for different contexts (social, organisational, educational and clinical). Moreover, the formative path deals with the development of observation methodologies and the use of tests and relational tools for assessment. Relevant non-psychological disciplines such as Economics, Sociology and Pedagogy complete the study plan. The Bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques establishes the following specific learning objectives:

• the key skills empowerment necessary to the assessment of situations and contexts (both formative and working), which the student experiences throughout his/her academic studies;
• the acquisition of essential theoretical and methodological concepts on the different psychological areas, through an in-depth study of knowledge and competences peculiar of each area, though taking into account a wider formative framework which includes also pedagogical, anthropological and sociological issues;
• the knowledge of different work environment characteristics that are useful for the psychologist. This in order to assure the student’s progress in association with a personal professional project.

Graduates should have:

• good analytical skills to deal with problems through an interdisciplinary approach;
• good knowledge of the scientific research methodologies;
• sufficient knowledge of first-level and professional skills in the field of evolutionary  psychology, occupational psychology, clinical and social psychology (interviews, tests, management of small groups, draft report);
• ability to process and manage data with IT tools;
• ability to draft scientific papers or reports, in order to prepare the final thesis.

Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge and comprehension skills

The Bachelor’s degree course in Psychology trains graduates with adequate knowledge of General Psychology, Psychometrics, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology, Psychology of Work and Organisations, Psychodynamic, Clinical Psychology.
Graduates should have a multidisciplinary knowledge (Anthropology, Sociology, Pedagogy and basic Epistemology, and Communication, Marketing, Business Administration, Information Technology, psychosocial tools).

Tests could be both written and/or oral, articulated between diagnostic tests, training or summaries, closely related to the exam programmes and other training activities.

Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension skills

Graduates are able to apply the acquired knowledge to the different situations; additionally, they are capable of performing operational and technical tasks to implement psychological and psychosocial interventions in psychological, psychosocial and work distress.

Making judgements

Graduates are aware of the critical aspects of their profession, being able to autonomously decide to which extent they can operate.

The graduate is able to propose solutions keeping in mind the existence of different theoretical approaches and methods of intervention. Their skills and ability origin from proactively participating in the in-depth discussion (forums), practising through production of papers (e-tivity, wiki, projects), practical experiences in small groups. The tests (oral or written) will be carried to assess the quality of learning.

Communication skills

At the end of the course, the student should be able to communicate and convey information both to specialists and patients and should have developed the ability to work in groups and/or autonomously. Communication skills are essential to obtain a good preparation

Learning skills

Graduates in Psychological Sciences know how to analyse problems, read through different cultural and scientific perspectives and how to work in groups.

The competences acquired during the bachelor’s degree course allow the students to apply for the Master’s degree in Psychology.

The assessment modalities include written and/or oral tests. These tests are aimed to improve the students’ learning skills. Interactive teaching activities, such as e-tivities and forum, are designed to stimulate critical analysis and discussion.

Final exam

In the final exam, the student has to prepare a thesis focused on the investigation of a specific issue. The aim of the final exam is to verify the acquisition of principal concepts in psychology along with the ability to critically discuss psychological issues. Accordingly, students’ competences will emerge showing their skills in encapsulating the main constructs of this formative path.

The objective is for the students to demonstrate, with a final and original paper, their mastery of presentation and communication skills, their ability to formulate, delimit, and operationalise a broadly defined psychological issue, and autonomously account for their thesis statement. Taking into consideration the activities listed above, the estimated amount of time needed to prepare the final exam is, on the average, about 100 hours.

However, the task of conducting an empirical complex project, such as a research project, is restricted to the Master’s thesis elaboration (Master’s degree). This is due to the more advanced and mature competences that are requested for its execution.