The Academic Senate and the Board of Directors of PoliMI have approved, on the proposal of your Student Representatives, the establishment of a 2 million euro Merit Fund. This is an important result of the representation activity: every year the university will allocate 2 million euros to deserving students, based on their academic performance.
The fund will complement the merit waiver policies already in place, provide additional resources for study abroad experiences, give solid support to off-site students to cover accommodation costs.
An important component of the resources will replicate at the Politecnico di Milano the Harvard Student Event Fund, a tool thanks to which students, if deserving, will be able to obtain reimbursement of expenses intended for extra-curricular activities, without their economic conditions being able to constitute a brake on their human growth.
Given the data of the 2009 balance sheet, with particular reference to the estimated extra revenue of € 6,000,000 generated in student contribution revenues due to the transition from the ICE to the ISEEU system, the Student representatives propose to establish a Merit Fund in which to invest € 2,000,000 every year, for the purpose of:
- support the equal opportunities of students, i.e. the possibility of accessing the highest degrees of studies regardless of the economic and social conditions of each one, with equal possibility of integrating one's cultural and human formation with extraordinary educational experiences;
- promote merit, that is, motivate students to work and express themselves for the best possible educational experience.
The fund must be contained in a specific item of the University budget in order to ensure controllability, to allow a timely analysis of effectiveness and for any corrections.
It must also be open to any additions by the University and grants from private subjects. The resources invested in the Fund and not spent will be cumulated in the Fund itself and reallocated in the following academic year.
The merit criteria for the assignment of the benefits described below will be defined by the Permanent Student Commission and the Administrative Management.
Articulation and allocation of the Fund It is proposed to allocate the entire amount of the fund according to the following:
- € 670,000 extension of exemptions for merit to students of the first year of LM, based on the results achieved the previous year and according to the methods and conditions currently used for the assignment of the partial and total exemption; to students from other universities, the exemption is granted partially (50%) to graduates with 110/110 and totally for graduates with honors;
- €240,000 integration of existing ERASMUS grants. Structured as integrations equal to € 200 / month for 1,200 months; the scholarships will be awarded to students who have applied regularly according to the procedures in force based only on the average of the grades;
- € 200,000 prize for the best 15 students of each faculty, based on the results achieved in the first year of the LT, awarded as scholarships of € 1,500 each;
- € 320,000 award of 80 scholarships worth € 4,000 each, awarded to the most deserving off-site students who are in the band < o uguale a 6, che facciano regolare domanda. The grant covers accommodation costs;
- € 420,000 interventions at Sportello aimed at supporting extra-curricular training experiences of a cultural, sporting and social nature, inside and outside the University. Each student can benefit from the counter fund up to € 250 / a.a.
- € 150,000 institution of scholarships for thesis abroad equal to € 500 / month each for deserving students.
Creating a Student Opportunities Portal
To ensure that the effects of the Merit Fund are effective and that all students can take advantage of it, it is proposed to establish an Opportunities Portal, or a web page of the University website dedicated to the opportunities that the Politecnico di Milano makes available to its students.
The contents of this page will be defined in agreement with the Communication Area. Corrective actions for disadvantaged categories of students.
Finally, interventions are proposed to restore the facilities for disadvantaged categories of students provided for by the ICE system, in particular the 10% reduction of the ISEEU for the purpose of determining the delivery band in the following cases:
- Students orphaned by a parent;
- Other brothers belonging to the same family unit enrolled at the Polytechnic.
