Master in Management Engineering

The Master in Management Engineering is a 2-year course entirely taught in English. The program description and practical information are available in the student guide, which is intended for students enrolled in the 2023-24 academic year. The application for admission can be submitted according to the procedure described on the Master's Degree website.

Foreign students who intend to enroll in the Master's Degree Course in Management Engineering must be aware that:

Enrollment requires a three-year degree in Engineering and a certificate of knowledge of the English language at least at level B2 issued by the University Language Center of the University of Florence.

Teaching activities, including project work, will take place entirely in person and it will not be possible to take courses and exams remotely. However, for some subjects, innovative teaching activities carried out in hybrid methods, such as the flipped classroom, may be adopted.

Training objectives

The Master's Degree Course in Management Engineering trains high-level professional figures with mastery of statistical, analytical, and numerical modeling methods, and of the technical-scientific, organizational and economic contents typical of Management Engineering.

The level of in-depth study of the topics covered during the training course characterizes the Master's graduate with a high technical-cultural preparation in the various management fields of engineering. He has the awareness and ability to assume responsibility for a variety of roles and professional figures, today extremely sought after by all large and medium-sized companies, but is often also valued in smaller companies in which he can quickly assume top roles.

The training activities offered in the master's degree course have been designed to create a professional figure capable of operating at the center of change and digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, to contribute with their skills to the introduction of new innovative solutions and systems production, to support the development of new business models and digital innovation.

The management engineer trained at the University of Florence has a predominantly industrial approach but can also find employment in service companies.

All required courses are taught in English. The use of English by teachers and students in teaching activities

promotes the development of a vocabulary that allows master's graduates to operate in the context of the global economy, as required by the companies in which they typically find employment.

The course of study is organized into two curricula. The first, called "Smart Industry", is based entirely on the courses provided at the University of Florence. The second, called "International", is based on an international structured mobility agreement signed with the HSLU of Lucerne and provides for at least one semester of study abroad (the first semester of the second year) and the award of a double degree in engineering, the Italian one and the Swiss one.

Access to the international curriculum requires participation in a specific call.

The two curricula overlap in the first year.

For both curricula, the compulsory courses are almost all in the areas of operations management, industrial plant engineering, design and management of production processes and production systems, automation, as well as economics and business organization, innovation, and project management. Furthermore, in the first year, basic knowledge is strengthened with the in-depth study of operational research and statistics for experiments and forecasts.

The second year differentiates the two curricula.

The Smart Industry curriculum, in addition to some courses in the areas mentioned above, it includes an internship/internship activity and the writing of a thesis. The thesis must be based on an industrial project and/or a research activity and must have originality.

In the international curriculum, however, the second year includes courses to be selected from the training offer of the HSLU of Lucerne, a specialization project, and a thesis activity in co-supervision with a teacher from each of the two universities. The teaching activities are programmed in blended mode up to a maximum of 1/3 of the ECTS and may include innovative teaching methods such as the "flipped classroom".

Professional profiles

The Course of Studies trains the following professional figures and company roles, also depending on the path chosen by the student:

RM1: Designer and manager of traditional and advanced production systems (also with a view to Industry 4.0)

This refers to the corporate role assigned, in the design phase, to the technical and economic choices relating to the setting up of production capacity (infrastructural and intangible resources) by choosing technologies, level of automation, capital intensity, management model, energy supply sources also of a renewable nature, environmental impacts of the process and product by integrating the various factors with system engineering methodologies in a system life cycle perspective. In the production phase, it is able to efficiently and optimally manage the production factors and, where necessary, to re-engineer the technical infrastructure and its organization.

RM2: Innovation Manager

It has the task of supporting - working in direct collaboration with entrepreneurs, General Managers, and Country Managers - the identification of new business opportunities (blue ocean), often starting from innovative approaches to investigation and the creation of new solutions (design thinking, user-centric design, lean canvas, business model canvas).

RM3: Service Manager

It has the task of conceiving, designing, engineering, and/or rationalizing services, operating: in traditional service companies (banks, insurance companies, healthcare companies, public administrations, professional firms, etc.), in manufacturing companies that offer services to support their products in their life cycle, or in companies that offer integrated product-service solutions (Product Service System).

RM4: Project Manager

This refers to the well-known figure responsible for managing a non-repetitive creation activity of a tangible or intangible asset, with a finite time horizon, numerous activities linked by constraints of precedence and resources, with particular attention to the planning and control of times, costs, and quality, and the risk associated with them, in a variety of purposes and contexts. This figure may be the subject of specific professional qualification, as the students will also be prepared to take the initial exams for the issuing of professional certificates (e.g. IPMA®, PMP® of PMI®).

RM5: Operations and Supply Chain Manager

Figure responsible for the analysis, planning, programming, and control of production and the supply chain, also with a view to its redefinition according to the paradigms of lean and agile production. Manages optimization problems in the presence of antagonistic factors (trade-offs). It rationalizes and simplifies production by identifying waste and recognizing its original causes, even remote ones. It best integrates production needs with those of maintenance, safety, quality, energy efficiency, and environmental impact. Implement coordination and integration mechanisms between the various actors operating at various levels of the supply chain. You have the task of defining the policies and distribution structures to support the company's business.

RM6: Reliability, Maintenance, and Safety Engineer

He is a professional figure who possesses specific skills in the measurement, evaluation, management, and improvement of RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety) performance of components, systems, processes, and plants. He knows the diagnosis methodologies aimed at optimizing maintenance activities; manages maintenance policies by minimizing the expected cost, manages the spare parts warehouse in an optimized manner, is able to carry out risk and functional safety assessments and identifies solutions for the prevention and minimization of impact.

Presentation of the study plan

The student is required to present, as required by the Study Manifesto, a study plan including the compulsory, optional, and free choice training activities that he intends to carry out in accordance with the Teaching Regulations. The plan is submitted for approval to the teaching structure itself within the terms set out in the Student Guide .

The Plan will be considered approved without further obligations for the student if the proposed changes refer to the inclusion of courses among those proposed by the Master's Degree Course in the Student Guide.

In the event that the changes inserted refer to courses not included among those proposed in the course of study, the Plan will be subject to approval by the Board of Directors. The study plan is valid starting from its approval by the competent teaching structure and remains valid until the approval of a new plan.

For students included in the International path, the study plan must follow the course selection rules published with the announcement.

Internship and final graduation exam

To be admitted to the final test, the student must have acquired all the credits in the remaining training activities provided for in the Teaching Regulations of the Course.

Smart Industry Curriculum

In the Smart Industry path, the final test, together with the internship activity, has a value of 24 credits corresponding to a full-time commitment of approximately 6 months. Generally, the test may concern, by way of example and not exhaustively, an activity of design or restructuring of production systems, re-engineering or optimization of processes also through the implementation of information systems, using advanced analysis and modeling tools, innovation process or business.

The final test ends with a paper whose objective is to verify the mastery of the topic covered, the student's ability to operate as well as his communication skills. The activity carried out, reported in the degree thesis, takes place under the guidance of two university professors; if this activity is conducted externally, in companies and/or institutions (external internship), the university supervisors are usually supported by a company expert who acts as a tutor. The graduating student applies advanced methodologies, linked to technological or organizational research/innovation activities, achieving complete skills and independent judgment in the specific sector of study, under the guidance and in dialogue with the thesis supervisors.

The thesis must normally be written and defended in English.

International Curriculum

In the International path, the final exam consists of a thesis worth 30 CFU, written in English and carried out under the joint supervision of two teachers from the two partner universities. The thesis may be carried out in collaboration with a company on application topics of interest to you and will be discussed at one of the two universities involved by a joint commission. The thesis work must in any case have characteristics of originality.

The thesis must be written and defended in English.