Presentation

Educational aims

The educational programme of this course aims at providing graduates with the multidisciplinary competences and skills in social, economic, demo-ethno-anthropological sciences, and in planning for development, with respect, in particular, to environmental sustainability, enabling them to understand, face and manage with adequacy and professionalism issues related to economic and social development, as well as to cooperation, in marginal and underdeveloped areas as well as in advanced Countries. After the first year, the Degree Course divides into two curricula: one focusing on economic development, sustainability and environment, and the other geared towards international cooperation and to the analysis of migration phenomenon, including teachings in English. The training aims at transmitting the skills needed to work in organised contexts such as local and national public administration, as well as in international governmental and nongovernmental organisations and in the third sector, as well as in all private national and international companies with a specific interest in investing in less developed and changing areas. A characteristic feature of this Degree Course is the creation of professionals capable of managing with attention all the typical phases of the actions of sustainable development and cooperation. Students will therefore be accompanied through an educational programme enabling them to acquire advanced knowledge of: - The dynamics underlying the main processes of development and economic convergence, at the micro and macro levels, through economic subjects; - The social relation processes, with a detailed overview of the demo-ethno-anthropological aspects with reference to past and modern traditions, through the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, history and demography; - The principles of law with a focus on multi-level juridic pluralism; - The methodological, social and economic statistics tools and methods, which are necessary to describe complex phenomena; - The fundamental traits of social self-entrepreneurship. - The design of models of sustainable development and social innovation. The course also aims at providing students with specific insights related to human movements determined by even extreme differences in development and by the territorial economic gaps present in industrialized countries, as well as aspects concerning international political programs and the design of sustainable development models linked to eco-design. For these insights students may benefit of 12 credits for elective courses. The Degree Course aims at training professionals in the field of economic science, cooperation and sustainable development, possessing the tools for understanding underdeveloped realities, the issues related to economic growth, the policies to fight poverty and the modelling, democratization, globalization and international regulation processes. This is also achieved through a specific mandatory internship, starting from the second year.

work perspectives

Profile: Expert in planning and coordination of programmes for economic and social development and fundraising. Functions: The local animator-planner promotes and enhances the opportunities of growth of a local community within development plans of a wider area. Economic and social development experts carry out research activities on concepts, theories and methods to analyse and understand the functioning of markets, to identify practical solutions to the problems of local economies with high growth. Experts are active in sharing economy and community building with attention to the needs of local contexts, with respect, in particular, to circular economy and environmental sustainability. They carry out functions of planning and management of cooperation and development interventions. They possess: - the ability to analyse economic contexts with developmental delays - the ability to intervene in local development - the ability to select and implement intervention policies suitable for triggering sustainable development processes. They also perform the function of economic analysis and can use the statistical-methodological tools for economic analysis. They can analyse the relationships among fundamental economic quantities and know how to interpret the statistical indicators that describe them. Skills: The expert may be involved as a primary actor in the analysis of contexts in which to intervene to carry out an activity of cooperation, including the issues of integration resulting from migration flows, and of sustainable economic development. The expert can identify and investigate the need for intervention within its planning activity and monitor and evaluate the results of the planned intervention or other development and international cooperation actions. He/she knows the best experiences of innovative design carried out in the world and can manage social innovation projects. Moreover, the expert knows how to use crowdfunding for the development of projects and events and is able to design them on his/her own, searches for partnerships in the local area for the development of the organization and the community, supports the management in building partnerships. He/she is able to organize major communication and fundraising events. Graduate also possesses the skills and competences to initiate self-entrepreneurial processes and to respond to the new needs of the labour market such as social companies and cooperatives. Career opportunities: In the first years of employment, graduates of the course will be able to carry out professional activities in the public administration, in non-governmental organizations and in the third sector, in educational institutions, in the system of social and cultural cooperation and international organizations, cooperatives and social enterprises. Other professional opportunities may be found in individual or associated activities, offices and youth cooperatives, aimed at cooperation, social interventions towards immigrants, assistance and observation during elections in areas of international crisis, in the promotion and protection of human and civil rights and in the achievement of equal opportunities in countries with developmental delays or in those areas where the role of women is still marginal compared to social and economic processes, as well as in the organisation of social innovation events aiming at the implementation of sustainable development plans, with a particular attention to social and environmental sustainability. Graduates will also find employment in organizations deling with the design and management of development programs and plans, with decentralized cooperation bodies (Region, Province and Municipality), companies with interests in developing countries. Profile Social innovation and social business entrepreneur Functions: The functions refer to the development of self-employment with reference also to the opportunities for financing innovative projects at national and European level. The social entrepreneur is oriented to start ups in relation to social and traditional finance. The entrepreneur of social innovation also operates in economically less advanced contexts and where solutions require partially standardized inter-sectoral knowledge. Skills: Expert in social business Entrepreneur of social innovation The social innovation entrepreneurs possess organizational and multitasking skills, ability to manage relationships, economic and financial bases. They master the marketing and sales techniques applied to social issues. They know the opportunities for financing innovative projects both nationally and in Europe. They manage social business and social innovation projects, competitive strategies and are able to find national and European public and private funds. They can use crowdfunding to develop projects and events. They drive staff culture towards process innovation and openness to new ideas, new operational methods, sustainability strategies, co-planning. Career opportunities: The profile is sought in particular by NGOs, social cooperation consortia, large and small cooperatives, large associations, Public Administration, nationally and internationally, small and medium enterprises oriented to local development in an internationalization perspective.

Characteristics of the final exam

To obtain the degree, students must have acquired 180 credits including those relating to the final examination (3 credits). The final test has the objective of assessing the level of maturity and critical skills of the undergraduate, with respect to learning and to the acquired knowledge, on completion of the activities provided by the course syllabus. The final examination consists of an oral test, in accordance with the rules fixed every year by the Degree Course Regulations for the final examination, respecting and consistent to the calendar, the ministerial requirements and to the relevant Guidelines of the University.