MALED, my opinion and recommendation
Now I’m officially graduated, left the load of memories, good and bad. I’d like to express my opinion about this course and I hope it will be useful for those who interested in applying this course.
- The course name is Master in Applied Labour Economics for Development. It is an economic class and yes, the math skill is really needed here!!! I have a classmate who have no idea at all that this course involved medium level mathematics, statistics and programming. Geez, don’t let’s yourself cry during the class. Remember, this course is an economic not social study.
- There will be a tutor who is the Ph.D student at UNITO to help you with your study. Use his/her service if you have some problem with your study. They will be available at face-to-face periods too. You might have a nice/great guy or unlucky enough to have a poor one. So don’t expect that much.
- Don’t ask for/copy other’s work. It is known that the committee made a few students failed during distance learning period because they just copy the xls/STATA-do file from their friend. Never give your work to anyone, doing this you jeopardize yourself too.
- The degree offered by this course is “First Level Master” which is very unique to Italian institution. In short it’s half master and giving only 60ECTS (full master gives 120ECTS). It is designed for those who need more training/study to improve their career without going for full scale master course (normally 2 years). It is very good for people who already got a job or working rather than fresh graduate or those who want to pursue Ph.D. MALED website already stated clear that most university may not accepted first level master for Ph.D (but some may accept). So be sure about what are you really want.
- Not all the teachers here are great… really. Some are very good, easy understanding, some are suck, boring as hell, not speak proper English, some are professional ILO staffs but totally suck at teaching. Don’t expect too much.
- Some adviser are looking good and maybe popular among the student but can be busy and may took 2-3 months to answer single email so choose wisely. My recommendation: try to find an adviser that in the same field of your thesis and doesn’t look so popular or busy (i.e. not teach at so many universities or have too much class). Decide the topic early, talk to the teacher about what you want to do, he/she might be able to suggest you someone who suits your topic.
- Exams are frequent, almost every 2 weeks so plan your study accordingly. In later month there will be a take home exam (essay), don’t cheat! It is known that some students help/copy each others or even send the exam back home to their previous teacher to help! You will fail if caught and it is not nice!
- Enjoy life, go out for sightseeing! There are so many nice attraction, museum and place to eat. And don’t limit yourself to just Torino.