Degree course in Biomedical laboratory techniques [L/SNT3] D. M. 270/2004
General information
Qualification awarded
Degree in Biomedical Laboratory Techniques
Level of qualification
First Cycle
Specific admission requirements and specific arrangements for recognition of prior learning
The degree program in Biomedical Laboratory Techniques is nationally planned access course. Students wishing to enroll in the program must have a secondary school diploma or another equivalent diploma attained abroad and recognized as suitable. Students must also have an adequate basic preparation as provided by current provisions regarding access to limited-access courses planned on the national level. The planned number of students who may enroll in the first year is determined in accordance with current legal norms regarding university admissions.
Profile of the programme
Graduates of the degree program in Biomedical Laboratory Techniques perform, in complete professional autonomy and responsibility, the technical procedures necessary to the execution of diagnostic methods on biological materials or people, in accordance with the provisions of Ministerial Decree N. 745 of 26 September 1994.
Graduates will have received adequate training in the basic scientific disciplines that will provide them with a fundamental understanding of the most important elements of the pathological processes which develop in childhood, adulthood, or old age, to which their diagnostic intervention is directed. They must also know how to use at least one foreign language of the European Union in the realm of their profession and to facilitate the exchange of general information.
Acquisition of these professional skills will be achieved through theoretical and practical training which also includes the acquisition of behavioral skills and is carried out in the working environment of the specific profession so as to ensure, upon completion of the degree program, total proficiency if all of the necessary skills and graduates’ readiness to put them to use in the work environment.
Graduates of the program in Biomedical Laboratory Techniques are responsible for their actions within the sphere of their competence, perform laboratory activities of analysis and research related to biomedical and biotechnological analyses; carry out their activities in public and private laboratory facilities, authorized in under current law, as dependent employees or as self-employed professionals; contribute to the training of support staff and participate directly in continuing education and training related to their profession and research.
Qualification requirements and regulations
Students must acquire 180 credits (ECTS credits), sixty for each year of the program, of which at least 60 must be acquired in practical training activities and internships aimed at developing specific professional skills. The program’s didactic activities, which may take the form of lectures, practical exercises, seminars and professional training internships, are divided as follows:
- basic training activities : 42 ECTS credits
- specific training activities: 113 ECTS credits of which 60 ECTS credits deriving from professional training internships;
- related training activities: 1 ECTS credit
- electives (art. 10, paragraph 5, letter a of Min. Decree 270/2004): 6 ECTS credits;
- Professional laboratories in the specific disciplines of the program: 3 ECTS credits;
- Other activities such as information technology, seminars, etc. : 6 ECTS credits;
- Final exam and English language: 9 ECTS credits
All of the rules regarding the organization and management of the study path for the degree program are described in the university teaching regulations (regolamento didattico) available at www.med.unipg.it/tecnlab .
Key learning outcomes
Knowledge and capacity for understanding
BLT graduates will have and be able to apply integrated knowledge derived from in-depth study on both the theoretical and practical levels of the basic scientific disciplines and the main diagnostic methods and technologies useful to the investigation of the nature and the dimensions of structural and functional alterations, on samples taken from patients or on the patients themselves, by means of chemical, physical, biological and bio-molecular techniques. They will also have acquired basic computer and general and professionally specific foreign language skills (level B1), the ability to use the principal databases and bibliographical sources of the profession, as well as knowledge of ethics, law, and health management and organization. Their program performance will be evaluated by way of oral and written exams and practical trials.
Capacity to apply knowledge and understanding (know-how)
BLT graduates by virtue of a training path that leads to the achievement of their professional skills by way of theoretical and practical training developed in the working environment of their specific profession, and which includes the acquisition of behavioral and relational abilities, are ready for immediate insertion into the job market, in accordance with a professional approach from both an exquisitely professional point of view and with regard to their ability to face and resolve practical and relational-organizational problems, as well as in the design and implementation phase of study and/or research programs. The development of these skills and abilities will be fostered by their program of study with an important contribution coming from practical training activities and professional internships carried out under the guidance of tutors belonging to the specific professional field.
Professional Autonomy and Decision-making
BLT graduates possess the knowledge and skills that endow them with professional and operative autonomy and responsibility, even in the organizational-management and project design phases of their work. They are able to critically interpret results deriving from both diagnostic protocols and procedures and from research projects, formulating judgments aimed at implementing corrective measures to bring about both technical and global improvement. Graduates will know how to face and evaluate, within the various areas of their own work, the ethical, deontological, and legal implications of their choices and activities, by centering everything they do on the well-being and dignity of the patient. The development of the student’s professional autonomy will be promoted by way of a continuous exchange of views with the instructors and staff responsible for their training in a series of activities characterized by a high level of interactivity.
Communication skills
Over the course of the degree program, BLT graduates will have developed the capacity to interact, in regard to various kinds of issues and problems, both with other professionals in different fields and with patients and service consumers. They will also be able to participate in debates and report on subjects pertaining to their work in various forums and according to the needs of the occasion, including occasions which involve the training of equivalent or related professionals. These communication skills will be acquired during classroom and practical training activities as well as in seminars.
Learning skills
BLT graduates will have acquired the cognitive instruments and methodological strategies necessary to more advanced study and professional training required for career advancement. They will also be aware of the importance of continuing education and training so as to ensure their ongoing ability to acquire additional knowledge and to constantly improve their professional skills.
Examination regulations, assessment and grading
In accordance with the Teaching Regulations (regolamento didattico) of the university, there are three ordinary exam sessions, two of which coincide with the termination of the relative periods of didactic activity (February and June/July) and one in the month of September. There is also one exam make-up session in the month of February of the following year.
Each session will have at least two pre-designated periods within which exams may be taken. Their may be additional exam periods established for students who are behind with their exams (and no longer attending lessons). Exams are conducted before a commission of at least two teaching faculty, and normally chaired by the Coordinator of the course.
The overall total of curricular exams shall not exceed the number of official courses established by the regulations and must not in any case exceed the number twenty in the three years of the course. Performance evaluation may take place by way of in-course evaluations or certifying evaluations (pass/fail or graded exams). Exams for individual courses are marked on a thirty-point scale with the possible attribution of honors.
The final mark for the degree, expressed on a scale of 110, will be determined according to the following parameters:
a) the average of the marks obtained on exams for curricular courses, elective courses, and internships, expressed on a 110 point scale;
b) the points attributed by the Degree Commission on occasion of the presentation and discussion of the thesis, obtained by calculating the average of the points assigned by all members of the commission (from 0 to 6 points);
c) the mark attributed to the practical trial (from 0 to 4 points);
d) points attributable to the academic career (2 points if the course is completed in three years with at least three honors, 1 point if the course is completed in three years with less than three honors);
e) other points attributed to other educational/training experiences (Erasmus, etc.), at the discretion of the commission.
Honors may be attributed on the unanimous vote of the commission to candidates who achieve a final mark of 110 or more.
The commission shall be composed of at least 7 and no more than 11 members named by the Rector on proposal of the Degree Program Council and includes at least two members designated by the most representative professional associations selected according to law.
Graduation requirements
To be admitted to the final degree exam, students must:
The final degree exam is composed of:
a) a practical trial in the course of which the student must demonstrate to have acquired the theoretical and practical and technical-operational knowledge and skills pertaining to the professional profile of a Biomedical Laboratory Technician;
b) the writing and discussion of an original technical-applicative thesis under the guidance of a supervisor.
Mode of study (full-time, part-time, e-learning, ...)
The degree program in BLT is a planned access course and regular attendance is obligatory. Students are required to attend at least 75% of the classroom lessons and 100% of their internship activities. There is a defined order of exams for different courses and years in addition to the defined order among courses defined in the Teaching Regulations. The legal duration of the degree program is 7 years. Given the attendance requirement individual study paths may be developed.
Occupational profiles of graduates with examples
The main occupational and professional opportunities for BLT graduates include:
- Biochemical-clinical, microbiological, virological, hematological, and immuno-hematological, immunological, genetic-molecular, toxicological-pharmacological, cito-isto-anatomo-pathological, and forensic medical laboratories operative within the hospital and extra-hospital systems of the National Health Service and in analogous private structures and hospitals or scientific care and treatment centers;
- Analytical and research laboratories in the realm of veterinary public health and hygiene and food inspection and safety sectors;
- Biomedical quality control laboratories in the pharmaceutical industry;
- University and non-university research laboratories in the human and veterinary biomedical field;
- Research and production laboratories in the pharmaceutical industry;
- Production and marketing companies operating in the diagnostic laboratory sector.
Access to further studies
The 3-year degree meets the requirements for admission to the master’s degree program in “Sciences of the Health and Diagnostic Technique Professions” as well as first level master’s programs or specialization programs.