The international degree course in" Sustainable Development of Public and Private Organizations " is held in English and aims to provide training based on a solid quantitative and qualitative methodological training, and on the acquisition of expertise in the Science of the administration of public and private organizations, the Science of Sustainability and in the multidisciplinary Methodology of System Dynamics supporting the analysis and modeling of sustainable development policies.
The training gained through this course enables the student to have access to job opportunities in both the public and private sectors.
In fact, if on the one hand, the continuous research and introduction of innovative policies that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public administration, and to facilitate their adaptation to the new opportunities offered by information technology, requires professionals capable to understand the complexity that characterizes the individual organization, to identify the key actors of the analyzed system, the decision-making and governance processes at various organizational levels, explain the causal relationships between the main variables of the investigated phenomenon, and support the learning processes of strategic decision- in the understanding of the possible alternative futures, in the light of the implemented models of dynamic systems
On the other hand, the ever-changing transformations of the private sector and the sustainable development of the individual organizations cannot be understood properly without a careful analysis not only of the specific context in which they operate, but also of the most broad socio-economic system, which is more and more often the object of public policies ( with reference, for example, to social, environmental objectives, etc.. ) that end up having particularly influencing reflexes on the "life" and future strategies of the companies. Therefore, both the public and the private sector increasingly require new alternative policies for sustainable development, and new professional profiles that are able to identify those policies on the basis of the specific characteristics of individual organizations.
The degree course proposes a curriculum that in the first place, with respect to the class of Sciences of the public administrations, explores the methodological aspects, in order to enable graduates to better understand the decision-making and governance processes at the various levels of public and private organizations, and to develop dynamic models of simulation supporting the planning processes of development policies. In this context takes place the insertion of the qualifying teachings in the field of Applied Economics, Political Science and Psychology of Work and Organisational Studies.
Secondly, the core course designed to provide advanced skills in the context of the Science of administration, of the Theory of Group Model Building analysis and of the assessment of the sustainability of development policies aiming at favouring the graduates capability for analysis of specific socio- economic, political and institutional contexts, to decipher the nature of the relations of cooperation and intra-and inter-organizational conflict, to assess and quantify the effectiveness, efficiency, and more in general, the performance of organizations, to perform cost/benefit analysis, to develop programs aimed at assessing the "customer satisfaction", to plan and manage inter- company or inter- institutional relations.
The educational objectives of the course are achieved through a wide range of similar and complementary activities in the legal, economic, political and social areas. The inclusion of these areas between the supplementary and complementary educational activities - as well as between the class-specific activities - depends on the fact that since the legal disciplines, sociology, political science and economic cover a wide range of sub- disciplines, they may be declined so differently depending on whether they are designed to provide the knowledge characteristic of the course or to develop insights into specific topics integrating such knowledge. The inclusion of these disciplines also has the function of allowing a higher degree of recognition of the training course taken by student in mobility s at other universities in the Convention.
The relevant and methodological skills acquired during the course make graduates capable of undertaking private practice as an expert consultant in the planning of strategies and policies for the development of public and private organizations, or to enter as a manager in private enterprises, administrations and public organizations, at local, national and supranational levels.
As established in the agreement instituting the course (30/01/2009) and subsequently amended in 2012, the degree course is characterized by the mobility of students within the network of the University of Bergen, Nijmegen, Lisbon and Palermo.
The degree program requires that each student must follow an entire semester at each of the universities that contribute to activate this degree, according to the following scheme :
First year - first semester
At the University of Bergen, students will take courses geared to the acquisition of knowledge and skills to build models of system dynamics applied to the governance of development;
First year - Second Semester
Students have the possibility to choose between :
- University of Palermo, where they attend courses aimed at developing models of dynamic systems to support the processes of planning and control for the sustainable business systems governance companies and public administration) ;
and
- The University of Lisbon, at which students will have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills relative to the main methodologies used in the field of sustainability of environmental systems ;
Second year - First Semester
At the University of Nijmegen, students will have the opportunity to understand the methods to be adopted for the development of models of dynamic systems with the involvement of key actors, through the approach of the so-called group model building.
Second Year - Second Semester
After completing the teachings at the universities mentioned above, the second semester of the second year will be devoted entirely to the preparation of a research project to be carried out with a public or private organisation.
The degree course will enable students to obtain a joint degree awarded by the University of Palermo and the University of Bergen. On the other hand, because of limitations in Dutch and Portuguese legislation, the University of Nijmegen and Lisbon will issue the Diploma Supplement. This certificate certifies that the degree has been achieved with success at these universities and reports the final mark.