Direct Admission at the second year of the biennial professional courses of Qualified Technician
Validation of the study titles and getting through of a technical-practical examination

There are few available places in any second year class. According to the new legislative regulations by the Regione Toscana (Regione Toscana: DGR 532 of the 22nd June 2009, DD 3679 of the 6th November 2009), the Institute can accept the requests of admission at the second year, only after a clear check of the individual motivations, of the study titles and of the professional certifications. The external applicants, in order to be admitted at this course must be in possession of a one year certificate of attendance in the selected restoration field, or an at least four year professional certification in the chosen sector.
In any case applicants must getting through an examination in order to demonstrate their technical and practical skills in the selected sector. The examination will take place in the Institute laboratories in the following days: Friday 10 and Saturday 11 September 2010 (practical test, duration 8 hours, theoretical duration 4 hours). The Institute reserves the right to ask for a preliminary individual meeting with the applicants, to be held in the Direction Office in Florence.

These are the correct procedures for attending at the second year of the biennial courses:
1. The applicant send the online admission form “Request of Admission Evaluation” which can be found at the end of this form. The Institute will request the copy of the compulsory documentation which, according to the Italian law, must be submitted to the Evaluation Committee: identity card or passport, a colour passport-size photo, a curriculum vitae, European format, the secondary school study title, others study or professional titles, eventual professional certifications and letters of reference.
2. The Evaluation Committee is made up of the Institute Director, the teacher who act as Course Co-ordinator and the Competences Valuator who is an external member, named due to the current Regional rules. Aim of the Committee is to validate and accept the application and to validate and assign the eventual entry credits.
3. The Institute send to the applicant the minutes of the Evaluation Committee, undersigned by the external member, which includes also the number of the assigned entry credits. The assigned credits can reduce the amount of the duration in terms of hours of the course with the subsequent reduction of the applicant tuition fee.
4. The applicant, after being admitted to the course, must complete his enrolment within the deadline previously fixed by the Institute, sending the Administrative Regulations duly signed, together with the copy of the bank swift of the payment of the first rate of the tuition fee.
5. The Admission Deadline is the 20th September 2010 and it cannot be postponed for the reason why the Institute must send to the Regione Toscana the list of the students within and not after 15 days before the beginning of the courses.


Admission of foreign students

Lessons are held in Italian. All the sessions has a practical approach and for this reason all foreign students who have a minimum knowledge of Italian language can follow them. The knowledge of Italian language is one of the evaluation criteria, for the admission to the courses. According to the art. 6, AD 3679/09 by Regione Toscana, is compulsory that foreign students have a knowledge of Italian language which can allow them to take part to the final exams. This knowledge will be checked by the teacher responsible of the entry level procedures.
Students can follow an Italian language course at IIC of his country of origin or in a specialised Italian school of language in Florence obtaining a certificate of average knowledge of Italian language. Our students can also follow a three months course from July to September in one of the schools partner of our Institute.
In order to help foreign students enrolled at our courses the Direction organise in its premises in the month of September an intensive course designed for all the students who want to learn the technical terminology of Art and Restoration.
We remind that for the whole triennium is possible to follow a free afternoon Italian language course.

Acknowledgement of the entry credits (admission at the second year)
Check of the competences level and of the admission exams results
(Regione Toscana: DGR 532 of the 22nd June 2009, DD 3679 of the 6th November 2009)

Each formative course should improve the starting level of the competences of any applicants, obviously in close relationship to the final target to be reached.

For this reason, the Institute activated a series of relevant and correct procedures for checking the entry credits in the phase of collecting of the admission forms. The procedures can be summarised as follows:
1. Checking of the study titles and of the professional experiences. Applicants are requested to send the copy of all their certifications related to the field of the chosen course.
2. Comparing the various study programmes followed by the applicant with the Institute study plans. This procedure is simplified when the applicant come from a foreign or an Italian institutions which have an agreement with our Institute on condition that it adopts the same system for the competences validation due to the SCS (Spinelli Credit System).
3. Checking of the preliminary admission examination, made in order to verify applicants technical and practical skills in the selected sector. The examination will take place in the Institute laboratories in the following days: Friday 10 and Saturday 11 September 2010 (practical test, duration 8 hours, theoretical duration 4 hours).

4. Checking of the entry requirements and of the admission exams results validated by the Evaluation Committee. The Committee is located in Florence and it is chaired by an external member, chosen by those ones accredited by the Regione Toscana, in order to guarantee a correct and clear checking.

The checking of the entry requirements can be concluded with:
a) A result of not being considered fit for the course, when the minimal requirements are not in possession of the applicant;
b) A result of being considered fit for the course, which allows applicant to follow the whole didactic study plan;
c) A result of being considered fit for the course and in possession of a certain number of entry credits, which allow applicant to follow a reduced number of hours after a preliminary definition of an agreement between the applicant and the formative institution.

The possession of more requirements respect of the minimal those ones, allow so, the assignment of entry credits and the subsequent reduction of the number of units to be followed by applicants.

Each entry credit will grant a reduction of the tuition fee which will be fixed by the Direction on the ground of a correspondence table with the programmed study units.


Final Examinations
(Regione Toscana: DD 3679 of the 6th November 2009, art. 7)

The Final Examinations valid for the evaluation, the competence certification and for the issue of the study title will take place at the end of the course in the date fixed by the Institute at least 60 days before their beginning .

The Exams Commission is made of 4 members:
• the President, named by the Province of Florence, who grant the correct carrying out of the exams and who is the responsible of the final certification;
• two experts members coming from the professional associations;
• a lecturer or a non administrative delegate, named by the Institute.

The exam is structured in a two days format:
• the first day is reserved to the “practical simulation test” of a project (technical and written tests);
• The second day is reserved to an oral discussion based on the results of the practical sessions and on some specific subjects chosen by the Commission.
Some integrative parts, can be added on commission requests ((battery tests, close questions, etc.); this is to verify the acquired single knowledge and the acquired skills referred to the various areas of activity: these tests can be considered only an extra addition on the practical tests of simulation. Students can enrich their dissertation with the help of integrated studies and researches.
The exam tests are chosen by the Institute together with the Competence Evaluator.

The exams are normally scheduled within the end of the course; the Institute in any case reserves the right to choose different dates, also after the end of the didactic year. The Institute Diploma, certificates the attendance of the course and the reaching of the targeted professional qualification. Students must file the examination request, together with the payment of the exams fee. Only the students who, at the fixed date, will be in order with all their didactic and administrative duties will be admitted to the exams.

For all the courses officially recognised and governed by public institutions, the final examinations will take place following calendar and criteria chosen by the involved public institutions. The Institute is not responsible for eventual changes of the Regional or State qualification denominations or of the eventual cancellation or delay of the final exams made and governed by competent public institutions.


Certifications and Diplomas
(Regione Toscana: DD 3679 of the 6th November 2009, art. 7)

Getting through the exam allows getting the following titles which will be issued within two months from the exams directly by the Regione Toscana:
• After the biennium: Certificate of Technician Qualified in Restoration
• After the third year: Certificate of Technician Expert in Restoration.
After all the courses it will be issued also a Certificate of the acquired Competences.
The Institute will issue a Diploma of “Palazzo Spinelli” undursigned by the President, the Director and the Course Co-ordinator.


Acknowledgement of the courses
( National Law no. 845 of 21st 12 1978)

According to the Regional Law n. 845 of 21st 12 1978, Regione Toscana organised the regional vocational training by means of a series of rules and regulations based on the European regulations and on the agreements with the Italian state. Our Institute is part of the Regional training system which recognised its courses from 1980 (Act n. 1881 of 12th.06.1980 and subsequent until the current Act no. 2840 of the 17th August 2009). The acknowledgements were granted by the Province of Florence due to the art. 17 comma 1 lett.b of the L.R. 32/2002 The Institute is accredited by the Regione Toscana under Law nr. 1722 of the 25th day of the month of March 2003. Accreditation code nr. 545. Certified ISO 9001:2000 IMQ/CSQ 9175.IPAR of the 16th day of the month of May 2005.

The professional qualification, as issued by a Regional institution, officially delegated by the Italian State due to the National Law no. 845 of 21st 12 1978, is valid on the whole National territory.

The title is also valid on the European countries thanks to the validation general system adopted with the European acts (89/48/CEE and 92/51/CEE), changed by the act 2001/19/CE.
More detailed information on the website http://ec.europa.eu Organization of the professional courses of restoration
Criteria and quality level of the formative sessions

Duration
The restoration courses are structured in a biennium followed by an optional third year of specialization.
After the biennium it will be issued the qualification of Qualified Technician. After the third year of specialization it will be issued the qualification of Expert Technician.
The biennium has a total duration of 1800 hours which can be divided in different amounts in the first and in the second year.
The annual specialization course has a total duration of 900 hours.
In order to obtain the qualification of Collaborator Restorer, is necessary to follow the triennial course.
In case of particular organisational needs, the Institute can reduce the annual number of hours for a maximum percentage of the 10% of the sessions.

Courses activities
The total number of hours, as showed in the study plan, includes: theoretical sessions, practical laboratory sessions, visits to exhibitions and firms, conferences and visiting professors sessions, seminars, research and documentation external or in the library, internal and external experiences, sites of restoration, practical internships in Italy and abroad, check intermediate sessions, dissemination of results, placement and orienteering activities. The hours spent for the final exams are not included in the total duration of the courses. The duration of the final exams are not included in the course number of hours. In case of general or particular didactic needs, the Institute reserves the right to change in any moment the structure of the study plan and of the weekly calendar of the sessions.
The total duration of the Institute professional courses is structured in order to assure that a percentage between the 70% and the 80% can be reserved to the technical-didactic activities of conservation and restoration in the labs or in external sites.

The attendance
The Institute academic courses have a full time format. The attendance is compulsory: It is mandatory for the final examinations admittance to have certified at least the 80% of the vocational tuitions and the 50% of the practical internship hours, when scheduled; these percentages are to be calculated without the allowed absence time (certified disease, reasons due to force majeure recognised by the Province), which will not be calculated on the total number of absences. The Institute reserves the right to turn away from the courses students whose absences exceed the 10% of the sessions, or students who don’t attend to the internal regulation or to the didactic or administrative rules fixed by the Direction, the Province of Florence and by the Regione Toscana. The Institute reserves the right to turn away from the courses students who act bad habits and behaviours inside and outside the Institute premises.

Lecturers
Due to the current Regional legislation almost the 50% of the technical-professional teachings, must have at least a five years of certified professional experience in his sector.
In this sense more than the 90% of our teachers has a 20 years certified practical experience. Each group of courses, of the same professional figure, is cared by a Co-ordinator who is normally a teacher of laboratory of restoration with more than 25 years of professional experience. The Co-ordinator is assisted by a group tutor who act as assistant and helps the co-ordinator in the placement and orienteering activities.

Composition of the Classes
Due to the current Regional legislation it is allowed a maximum number of 25 students in each class. The Institute has anyway fixed this number only for the theoretical sessions. For the practical laboratory sessions laboratory the Institute offers a relationship students/teacher of 10:1, and in case of exceeding the Institute guarantee an assistant chosen amongst the former graduated Palazzo Spinelli students. The maximum number of students admitted in the Institute laboratories is 14.

The intervention of restoration in laboratory and in external sites
In order to assure an high quality of teaching, the Institute has always offered to the students the opportunity to work, during the practical laboratory sessions, on various artworks included in the Italian Superintendences lists. A minimum percentage of interventions (almost the 20%) is made on other private original artworks: these interventions are scheduled during the first study year. All the practical laboratory interventions made by our teachers and students, can be considered as true “sponsoring” interventions made in favour of churches and monuments belonging to the city of Florence, and they are so made free of charge, with the payment of only the used materials expenses.

Internships or guided practical activities
Due to the Regione Toscana legislation (DD 3679/09, art. 6) any professional course must include a period of practical internship which should last from the 30% to the 50% of the total course duration.
The Institute believe that one year of practical internship on a three year course can create some problem to the laboratory formative activities. Besides, it is not easy to find good and professional partners, for practical internships sessions. For this reason the Institute, reserves the right to change the external internships with practical guided laboratory sessions or with other restoration experiences.
Due to the regional rules students have to spend their period of internship in the territory of the province of Florence. Anyway, for particularly important projects of internship is possible to ask and obtain from regional authorities a special authorization for practical internships in Tuscany, in other Italian regions or abroad.


Résumé of the courses (students, restored artworks, restoration sites, practical internships)
Brief history of the Department of Restoration of Mural Paintings, plasters and stuccoes, stone artefacts
Brief history of the Department of Restoration of Paintings on canvas and wood panels (students, restored artworks, restoration sites, practical internships)
Brief history of the Department of Restoration of Ceramics and Archaeological Finds (students, restored artworks, restoration sites, practical internships)


Second Year Study Plan
The annual number of hours and the formative sessions

Since its creation, the Institute is considered as the major European centre in terms of practical activities which have a percentage of 70% - 80% of the total numbers of teaching hours. The biennial course respects this percentage and it is structured as follows:

Sessions common to all study addresses (seminars, meetings, workshops, individual study)
Work Safety and health at work. Drafting of projects and preliminary budgets. Elements of Documentation and Cataloguing. Elements of climatology.

RESTORATION OF MURAL PAINTINGS II
Practical activities (3-4 days a week: study, laboratory, restoration sites, practical internships)
Design and graphic survey. Restoration of mural paintings, stuccoes and plasters, stone artefacts.
Artistic, technical and scientific sessions applied to restoration (1 day a week)
History of Perspective and Illusionistic Painting. History and Theory of Restoration. Chemistry of solvents and materials. Techniques of Diagnostic.Virtual Restoration. Elements of programmed Maintenance.

RESTORATION OF PAINTINGS II
Practical activities (3-4 days a week: study, laboratory, restoration sites, practical internships)
Design and graphic survey. Restoration of polychrome and gilt artworks. Consolidation and Restoration of paintings on canvas and wood panels. Restoration of worked, assembled and/or painted artefacts.
Artistic, technical and scientific sessions applied to restoration (1 day a week)
History of Painting. History and Theory of Restoration. Chemistry of solvents and materials. Techniques of Diagnostic.Virtual Restoration. Elements of programmed Maintenance.

RESTORATION OF CERAMIC II
Practical activities (3-4 days a week: study, laboratory, restoration sites, practical internships)
Design and Graphic Survey. Restoration of ceramic, glass and organic materials and artworks. Restoration of metal and alloy materials and artworks. Restoration of archaeologicical finds. Restoration of stone artefacts.
Artistic, technical and scientific sessions applied to restoration (1 day a week)
History of Archaeology. History of Ceramic and Sculpture. Techniques of Excavation. History and Theory of Restoration. Chemistry of solvents and materials. Techniques of Diagnostic. Virtual Restoration. Elements of programmed Maintenance.

Formative Units and System of Credits (Regione Toscana: DD 3679 of the 6th November 2009)
All the courses are structured for U.F., Formative Units which are strictly connected to the certification of final competences.
The system of credits is an instrument which helps in the evaluation of the amount and the quality of students work. Each credit is represented by the measurement of the amount of the work which every student did in order to reach the programmed formative goals provided by any single course. A credit is equivalent to 25 hours of study, including frontal sessions, laboratory, practical works, internships, seminars and meetings, researches and individual work.


GENERAL PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMISSION AND THE ENROLMENT AT THE SECOND YEAR OF THE BIENNIUM OF RESTORATION

These are the correct procedures for attending at the second year of the biennial courses:
1. Applicant have to send the online admission form “Request of Admission Evaluation” which will be preliminarily submitted to the Evaluation Committee.

2. In few days the Admission Office will inform applicant about the preliminary checking results, admittance or refusal. In case of admittance, applicant have to send copy of the documentation which according to the Italian law must be submitted to the checking of the Evaluation Committee: identity card or passport, a colour passport-size photo, a curriculum vitae, European format, the secondary school study title, others study or professional titles, eventual professional certifications and letters of reference. These documents can be personally consigned or can be sent by post to the Institute secretariat (Via Maggio 13, 50125 Firenze). It can be also sent by fax to the number: (+39 055 217963) or by email (secretarypr@spinelli.it).

3. The Evaluation Committee after checking the received documentation, assign the eventual validation of the entry credits, their economic value and the subsequent reduction of the tuition fee, and send to applicant the Official Minute, the Administrative Regulation, and the invitation to complete the enrolment within a preliminarily arranged date.

4. Admitted applicants must complete at this point their enrolment, by sending by fax (+39 055 217963) the duly signed Administrative Regulation together with the receipt of the bank swift attesting the payment of the first rate of the tuition fee. Payments can be directly made at the Administrative secretary office or by postal order addressed to: Istituto per l'Arte e il Restauro, Via Maggio 13 - 50125 Firenze. Payments can also be made by bank swift addressed to the following Institute bank account: Banca UNICREDIT, Firenze, via Brunelleschi n. 11 (IBAN: IT 15 K 03002 02830 000000880880 - BIC SWIFT: BROMITR10V5). The enrolment will be complete only after the registration of the Administrative Regulation duly signed by the applicant.

5. The Secretariat send to enrolled students by e mail the Official Certificate of Enrolment and all the other useful information regarding the beginning of the academic year.