The degree course in Political Science combines multidisciplinary theoretical competences and practical ability. It aims to develop professionals who know how to thoughtfully appraise the political, sociological, economic, juridical and historical aspects of specific, complex problems. It also intends to produce graduates who, with a clear understanding of their roles in democratic social life, have an ability of analysis and synthesis as well as critical and operational abilities within the socio-institutional processes of local, national and super-national realities. Students will be made aware of the relationships between the decisional centres of European and international institutions, as well as the dialogue between community, enterprises and institutions. Students will also study gender dimensions, themes of equal opportunities and gain the ability to enhance local peculiarities in the worldwide context, with particular reference to the Mediterranean area.

 

The knowledge of how public and private organisations work and the study of the territory in its historical, social, institutional and economic components is fundamental to the degree course in Political Science. The course combines essential theoretical knowledge of these elements with the ability to effectively use two European foreign languages, the development of abilities concerning the planning and implementation of public policies, the ability to operate in public administrations and private and non-profit organisations, the use of social research methods and techniques, the ability to manage, organise, analyse and communicate data, the ability to identify solutions to social and institutional problems with an interdisciplinary approach and from a cultural mediation point of view.

The different degree programmes proposed allow students to acquire skills specific to interactive functions with European and international political, social and economic subjects, and/or with local administrations, institutions, associations and enterprises, and/or with the problems of multiculturalism, of differences, of equal opportunities, of pluralism and of information.

 

The degree course in Political Science gives graduates great flexibility to face the ever-changing demands of the job market.

Depending on the specific programme chosen, graduates in Political Science can find jobs in various fields: regional, national, European and international level politics; public, private or service administrations; planning and management of public policies; legislative and administrative consultation for local planning and development; labour, trade union and political representations;  information or cultural mediation; editorial and promotional journalism; social research within or on behalf of public corporations and private firms. Graduates can enrol in a specialist degree course which is pertinent to their undergraduate programme.

 

The degree course in Political Science lasts three years and is divided into four programmes, or curricula: ‘Administrative’, ‘European’, ‘International’, ‘Sociological’. The degree course includes political, historical-political, historical-philosophical, juridical and sociological subjects, as well as statistics and economics. Moreover, students study two foreign languages and computer skills. There are also seminars in specific subjects and laboratory activities for the acquisition of editorial ability, in social research and for knowledge of the labour market.

The ‘Administrative’, ‘International’ and ‘Sociological’ curricula are the same in the first year, but are different in the second year.

The ‘European’ curriculum has a different programme. Twenty of the students that choose the ‘European’ will be selected for the ‘Double Degree in Political Science and in Derecho'. This is an innovative study course promoted by the Faculty of Political Science and designed and run in collaboration with the Faculty of Juridical and Social Studies of the University of Jaén (Spain), for a ‘European’ ‘double degree’ qualification, in accordance with the “Bologna Declaration” signed by 29 European States for a common European higher education space. Admission to the ‘double degree’ course depends on the passing of a special selective procedure. In this, the knowledge and basic skills of the candidates will be assessed, as well as their attitude and predisposition to live and to study in a multicultural, international environment. A student of the ‘European’ curriculum will acquire the credits of the I and of the II year at the University of Calabria and the credits of the III year, except those related to the language and sociological seminars, at the University of Jaén. The final exam for the attainment of the degree will be held at the University of Calabria.

The Administrative curriculum is specifically designed to allow graduates to work within public and private administrative organisations and, above all, it promotes the acquisition of juridical and political knowledge necessary for graduates to become competent administrators.

The European curriculum offers a modern, innovative programme for graduates who will operate with quality and excellence within member states of the European Union. They will satisfy the professional, social, economic and political demands needed in the context of the process of integration. The intercultural and multidisciplinary study programme is designed for students who particularly want to take part in mobility programmes and international training or professional experiences.

The International curriculum is for students who are more interested in activity within, or in collaboration with, corporate bodies connected to the European Union and to the various aspects of international cooperation and institutions. It offers an interdisciplinary study programme, in which international and European law, history, economics and sociology are important.

The Sociological curriculum proposes a multidisciplinary programme designed to develop competences in the fields of social research, analysis of society and of cultures, social planning, cultural mediation and publishing. It is aimed at graduates who have an ample and flexible preparation that will allow them to operate in public, private and non-profit sectors.

 

 

The purpose of the degree course in Social Services is to train people who are able to recognise and to analyse the social needs of individuals, groups and communities, to promote projects directed to the well being of the citizens and to organise, manage and appraise the social services (for people, groups and communities).

The course is designed to favour the growth and the diffusion of professional knowledge, attitudes and abilities necessary for the development of the social services. These services are aimed at helping the active participation of the citizens based on the rights and the principles of social equity.

The graduates of this degree course should acquire a suitable preparation that will help them face situations of uneasiness and marginality, and to favour social integration. To do this they will have to be able to identify the various forms and the different ways through which social exclusion occurs.

Another objective of the degree course is to develop, through study and placement training, specific abilities to help understand and analyse the territory and gain knowledge of types of relationships in various social environments.

 

 

Undergraduates on this degree course acquire knowledge of the relative fundamental scientific disciplines and a mastery of the principles, methods and techniques of social services.

They will develop competences and a sensibility to interact with cultures and differences, including gender differences, in the perspective of social, intercultural and multi-ethnic relationships.

The graduates should, also, have a good command of the English language and possess those computer skills necessary for the exercise of professional activity in the public or private sector.

Knowledge learnt in this course is there to help create more aware and qualified professional operators who have a deep knowledge of the cultural, political and organisational processes upon which the supply and demand of services to people and families depends.

The degree course in Social Services is divided into two programmes, or curricula: community and organisation. The two curricula, which students chose after enrolment, have almost the same subject structure in the basic activities (in the fields of sociology, psychology, law, history and economics).

The community curriculum is designed to create professional figures who are able to work in animation and social promotion activities on the territory, which are aimed at facilitating the interaction between vital elements of the communities (of a family, local, cultural or religious character) and the action of the institutions. These professionals should tend to favour self-organisation activities on the territory and, also, sustain initiatives aimed at answering the serious problems of uneasiness and marginality that occur in some modernised situations within community life.

The organisation curriculum is designed to develop knowledge of the organisations present in the various disciplines, with the purpose of contributing to develop professional competences suitable to realise the services and to make these work in relationship with social transformations and in full correspondence to the needs of the users. The fostering of competences related to business organisation and organisation sociology considered necessary for the formation of a professional social assistant is also an important aspect of this degree.

 

The objective of this activity, which is curricular and obligatory in the degree course, is to favour a learning founded upon the continuous integration between theory and field experience. The purpose of the placement training is to orient undergraduates towards the profession of social assistant, and to a practical experience of the profession as practised in the public or private service industry of the social services. Through the this experience a close working relationship is established between the University and the territory so as to give an opportunity to the students to immerse themselves in the operational dimension of the profession of social assistant and to verify they have the motivation to assume such a role.

 

The degree in Social Services aims to allow the graduates to enter different sectors of the public or private social services job market.

The graduates, after passing the state examination (Esamo di Stato), can register as social assistants - Section B - and they will be able to do professional work as social assistants. Employment opportunities are, mainly, those of health, education, services to the family and all those services aimed at facing the different forms of exclusion and of social marginality. These include the services that guarantee equal opportunities and guardianship of the weak.

The professional employment opportunities of this degree course are in continuous evolution, since the problems of social life are certain to grow as modernisation continues.

 

 

 

The objective of the three-year degree course in Administration is to combine scientific and professional methods and cultural content knowledge with competences of the juridical, socio-political and economic issues in the field of territorial, national and international public administrations, as well as in the field of private organisations and of the tertiary sector. It aims, at the same time, to give students a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary methodology and the cultural tools needed to train able professional figures who can interpret change and effectively stimulate organisational innovation in public and private administration. The degree course is, therefore, aimed at students who intend to work in corporate bodies and institutions at various levels. Students should have a predisposition towards theoretical and empirical studies of the organisation of political and administrative institutions.

 

The course aims to provide public institutions, private enterprises and service organisations with personnel who have the necessary competences for the activities of planning and of development of initiatives for promoting social, civil and economic growth of the communities; for the implementation of specific public policies contemplated for the development and the enhancement of the administrations present in the territory, also favouring the construction and the expansion of collaboration and cooperation networks between the institutional and social actors; to satisfy the need of new entries in the job market, with the purpose of modernising the administration system (territorial, functional, public and private).

 

Graduates from the degree course in Administration have the ability to take working roles in local, national and international corporate bodies and institutions and in private organisations (profit and non profit) that work with them. Considering that the administration system in Calabria has some structural weakness, it is believed that it is absolutely necessary in the near future, together with the retraining of the existing personnel, to insert new professional figures in the public and private administration structures so as to be able to keep up with the massive transformations that are happening now.

 

The programme is structured so as to allow the graduates to enter the world of public administration and in the societies and associations that have work relations with the public administration.

To guarantee the formation of professional figures gifted with specialist skills and knowledge of procedural and relational systems, the study course has a distinct interdisciplinary nature. Four areas are integrated in the course: the juridical area (private and public law, comparative constitutional law, administrative law and comparative administrative law, the penal code, and European union law), the economic area (micro and macro - economics, regional economics, company and public administration, and development cooperation), the political-institutional area (political science and administration studies, history of political institutions, political sociology and sociology of administration) the historical-sociological area (general, organisation, analysis of the territory, deviance sociology, as well as contemporary history and work psychology). The curriculum also includes subjects such as foreign languages and computer science.

(Specialist degree)

 

The specialist degree in Political Science is a continuation of the three-year degree in Political Science of the University of Calabria or equivalent degree courses of other universities. The specialist degree in Political Science lasts two years. Students must earn 120 formative credits, these add to the 180 credits for the first level degree.

 

The specialist degree in Political Science is divided into four programmes, or curricula (‘administrative’, ‘European’, ‘international’, ‘sociological’). It fosters in depth knowledge and methodological skills in the international and administrative fields, of politics, the law, economics, sociology, history and of statistics.

The objectives of the course are to give students those elements which are essential for the understanding of the environment in which governments, institutions, administrations and citizens move and interact. This helps form a professional figure that has the ability to analyse the socio-political and economic-institutional phenomena, in national, international, European and territorial perspectives. This figure will then be able to contribute to the decisional processes of complex organisations. These professionals will be able to plan and to put into effect projects which require an organic approach; they will also be able to monitor the state of implementation and to assess their impact.

The scientific approach of the degree course is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. It combines political, juridical-institutional, sociological, economic, historical and statistical skills in a comparative way. The specialist degree allows for the acquisition of specialised knowledge which will permit graduates a flexible insertion into the job market.

The graduates of the specialist degree in Political Science can work in positions of great responsibility in the public and private sectors. The degree course prepares students for managerial careers in public administration at every level, in private organisations and in the tertiary sector, in social research and communication.

There are also activities to further linguistic, computer science and methodological skills.

The ‘European’ curriculum, with its goal of obtaining a “double degree in Political Science and Derecho”, offers high-level interdisciplinary training which combines theoretical knowledge and multidisciplinary abilities.

 

Employment opportunities for the graduates of the specialist degree in Political Science are in public employment, the diplomatic service, service in European and international organisations, occupations in private enterprises (banking firms, multinational companies, demographic and market research, publicity and communication societies), consultation and liberal professions. Graduates find work in the following:

- public administration and territorial institutions (especially in the managerial area);

- diplomatic services;

- international organisations (U.N. and relative agencies);

- organisations of the European Union;

- Foreign Trade Institute;

- public and private firms (personnel management; business development policy, etc.);

- banking sector;

- tertiary sector;

- economic-business consultation, local development agent and intermediary community agent (after official registration, where needed);

- corporate bodies and enterprises for demographic and market research;

- journalism and communication;

- promotion of events and publicity.

(Specialist degree)

 

The objective of the specialist degree in Social Work Policies is to train competent professionals who are able to plan, coordinate, and innovate policies and social services, within the framework of the new national and regional legislation laws.

 

As well as adding to the basic knowledge necessary for the planning and management of the social services already acquired in the three-year degree, the specialist degree in Social Work Policies provides students the methodological ability and the tools for the analysis of the socio-cultural and operational contexts of the social services. It also gives the necessary competences for managerial, organisational and juridical–institutional roles.

The two years of study necessary to obtain the specialist degree, after the completion of the first level degree course, are directed towards forming graduates who possess

- advanced knowledge of the disciplines of the social services and a high-level ability of analysis and interpretation of the social and institutional policies, as well as of the processes of change of society;

- knowledge of the analysis tools of other social sciences: psychology, anthropology, history, economics and law. This should make the graduates more aware and qualified professional operators, as well as give them a clearer recognition of the cultural, political and organisational processes on which the supply and demand of the services to the people and the families depend;

- mastery of the different methods of design, formulation and management of social investigations and of analysis and interpretation of the relative results;

- necessary competences for the planning, organisation and the management of interventions, services and social policies in the sectors of health, education, family, immigration, exclusion and social marginality, of the prevention of social discomfort, of the promotion of equal opportunities and of the weak, in the general framework of welfare policies;

- competences in the methods and the techniques related to the monitoring and the evaluation of results and social impact of the single intervention programmes in the various sectors;

- competences necessary for the innovation and the planning of interventions in the various sectors and linking this and the supply of the corresponding services;

- a high degree of autonomy in their work and the ability to play structural and service roles of great complexity in department and area management within the social policies;

- capacity to manage group work while promoting various forms of cooperation between structures providing services to people;

- competences and tools for the communication and management of information;

- competences to interact with cultures of different social groups and immigrant populations in the perspective of social, intercultural and multi-ethnic relationships;

- mastery of the forms of written and oral communication and to have a good knowledge of the English language.

The specific employment opportunities of the graduates in Social Work Policies are connected to the policies and planning of social services. More precisely, graduates can work in the territorial services, in the public, private and tertiary sectors that operate in providing services to people, to families and to the community. The graduates, after passing the state examination (Esamo di Stato), can register as professional Social Assistants-Section A. They are able to do work of planning, management and evaluation of the social services in the sectors of health, education, family, immigration, exclusion, marginality, equal opportunities, of the weak and of the promotion of social wellbeing. Particularly, the graduates will be able to work in managerial roles in services, structures and departments in the field of the organisation of the social services.