Programs

social sciences

Overview Baccalaureate Licentiate Doctorate Special Programs

In compliance with the “Bologna Process”, the program in Social Sciences follows the structure laid down as the standard in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), with three successive Cycles of studies, each one terminating with the conferment of an academic degree: Baccalaureate (1st cycle, NQF 6); Licentiate (2nd cycle, NQF 7), Doctorate (3rd cycle, NQF 8).

1st cycle: Baccalaureate degree, lasting 6 semesters and concluding with a written exam (180 ECTS).
2nd cycle: Licentiate, comprising 4 semesters of more specialized coursework. It concludes with the presentation and public defense of a final written thesis (120 ECTS).
3rd cycle: Doctorate, lasting 4/6 semesters of courses and seminars, with the preparation of a dissertation using original research, part of which needs to be published in order to obtain the degree.

Plan of Studies

The curriculum of the Faculty of Social Sciences is structured in a multidisciplinary integrated way, with five disciplinary areas:

Ethics and Catholic Social Thought;
History and Politics;
Law and International Relations;
Economics and Social Communications;
Sociology and psychology.

Courses are mostly taught in Italian. Angelicum offers a specific Language Programme to help non-Italians pursue their studies. For foreign students, especially in the first year, there is a tutoring service in the English language.

Third cycle. Duration: 2 years (4 semesters). NQF 8.

The program aims at the development and writing of a academic, original research thesis.

Only students may be admitted to the doctorate who have a canonical licentiate:

From our University with a minimum average mark of 8.5/10 in all the examinations and seminars of the second cycle, as well as in the thesis and the final Licentiate exam;
From another institution with a sufficient mark to be admitted to the Doctorate in that institution. If the said institution does not have a third cycle, norm 1 will be applied.

Students with a master’s degree, but not a canonical licentiate degree, may apply for a prior assessment of their studies and experience in order to be able to enroll in the licentiate cycle, obtain their corresponding academic degree, and then have the possibility to continue on to the doctorate.

The candidate must prepare an academic thesis under the direction of a professor, one that follows the standards set by our University, is suitable for publication, and which follows the guidelines of the FASS regarding bibliographic referencing. During the cycle, doctorate students may be offered the opportunity to try their skills in teaching and research under the guidance of professors and as a tutor of newer students.

Students should inform the Dean, even before enrollment, about the subject they wish to study in their research project, so that the Dean can ascertain the availability of a moderator and a censor. The Dean shall verify the required knowledge of the language/s necessary for the preparation of the dissertation on the part of the student, the moderator and the second reader.

During their first year, doctoral students should complete the Methodology Course of the Doctoral Programme (January to June, one Saturday per month, 3 ECTS), after which they submit their dissertation project to the Dean for approval with the completed form available in the FASS secretariat. To be admitted to the defence of the doctoral thesis, the student must have passed all the examinations prescribed in their study programme.

The dissertation, minimum 150, maximum 400, pages, with 2000 characters per page, should be written according to the guidelines available on the faculty website. After obtaining approval from his/her moderator, the student should submit the dissertation to the Dean who will designate a second reader (the censor). The censor will review the dissertation. He or she has one month to do so.

This subsection reports the main initiatives organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences to support its students. There are now three Programmes active:

Tutor

The program allows students to achieve the academic degrees granted by the Faculty of Social Sciences: Baccalaureate, Licentiate and Doctorate, in a way that is compatible with work commitments. It is for people who are engaged in a professional activity and cannot regularly attend courses. It follows the European scheme of the “European Qualification Framework” (EQF).

People who already have an Italian degree, or an international equivalent, or a pontifical university degree, in a subject related to social sciences, may see their formation credits already acquired for the various degrees recognized by the faculty. Likewise, even those who do not have a post-high school degree can have their work and professional experience recognized and be exempt from certain elements of the program, according to the European EQF recognition process.

Students in the program are required to attend one Saturday a month from October to May (8 times per year on dates set at the beginning of the academic year) and during an intensive week in June. One can enter the program either in October (1st semester) or in February (II semester).
Tutorial meetings (mandatory) focus on interdisciplinary topics in social sciences and provide personalized learning support.

Courses and Exams

Each TUTOR student in the first two cycles must take a series of examinations agreed upon with the Dean for each year chosen from the Faculty’s regular program and take all the exams and hand in the written papers required to receive the mark for the annual program seminar. TUTOR students of the third cycle must attend the Course for Doctorate Students and take three other examinations, agreed with the Dean, with one year of required attendance in the TUTOR Program seminar, and fulfill all the requirements to receive the mark for the annual program seminar.

The Faculty staff provides each student with the assistance necessary to solve technical-administrative problems and to organize and carry out their studies. Students are held responsible to fulfill all the requirements that are compulsory for all FASS students, except for those from which they have been individually dispensed.

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TUTOR Program Archives

Tutor Program 2022-2023 External Link Icon – La pace e la guerra

Tutor Program 2021-2022 External Link Icon – Il futuro del lavoro nella prospettiva dell’economia di Francesco

Tutor Program 2020-2021 External Link Icon – Nazioni e relazioni internazionali

Tutor Program 2019-2020 External Link Icon – Mettere in pratica la Dottrina sociale della Chiesa

Tutor Program 2018-2019 External Link Icon – I Global Compact sulle Migrazioni e sui Rifugiati

Tutor Program 2017-2018 External Link Icon – L’agenda 2030 e il pensiero sociale cattolico

Tutor Program 2016-2017 External Link Icon – La città e l’urbanizzazione di oggi

Tutor Program 2015-2016 External Link Icon – Il futuro del matrimonio e della famiglia

Tutor Program 2014-2015 External Link Icon – L’invecchiamento degli individui e delle società

Tutor Program 2013-2014 External Link Icon – Il lavoro umano nell’economia attuale

Tutor Program 2012-2013 External Link Icon – Mass Media e comunicazione responsabile

STRONG+

STRONG programme, started in 2018, is focused on the empowerment of foreign citizens residing in Italy and of Italians with migrant backgrounds, both young and adult, so that they can become agents of social change as well as improve the social inclusion of migrants in their local environment.

More specifically, the programme provides access to university education for young people with migrant backgrounds and for adult migrants who want to complete their previous education, improve their job opportunities, tackle their marginalised status and improve their sense of self-worth.

It is a new, more developed version of a previous project that also aimed at improving the education of migrants and which has been running with notable success for over ten years in the FASS, entitled the “Studio Realtà Project” (SRP).

The STRONG programme thus combines competence and experience with innovative elements, in response to the changing situation of migration.

STRONG+ Program Action Lines

(S) Selection – The selection of scholarship holders will take place every year through a public call, which will be issued in May for enrollment in the next academic year. The call will be promoted through the communication channels of the Faculty and in cooperation with the network of local partners.
(T) Training – The scholarship entitles students to access an academic training path offered by the FASS which also includes a specific training on the topic of migration: Baccalaureate in Social Sciences; Licentiate in Social Sciences (Master’s Degree, NQF 7); Diploma in Management of Third Sector Organizations and Social Enterprises, a specialized annual course, aimed to develop professional skills, managed by Adjuvantes together with FASS.
The Programme will also offer: 4-hour annual Workshop (on Saturdays) on specific topics; the possibility of participating in external conferences and in courses provided by other Pontifical Academic Institutions.
(R) Research – Students will participate in a field research project (at least once in their curriculum).The research will be carried out collectively by the group of students. It will be coordinated by a professor of the Faculty and will take place in the II semester (16 hours of classroom and 8 hours of field: total 24 hours). The results of the research will be published and presented in the annual public event, organized in collaboration with the local partners.
(O) Orientation and Active Citizenship – An orientation service will be provided every year, open to all students in the Programme: 12 hours of class orientation and 4 hours of personal orientation. The STRONG Programme fellows will be asked to develop their soft skills and apply their academic knowledge through practical activities, within the Angelicum or at partner institutions (companies, associations, etc.): curricular internship, volunteer experiences, active participation to Angelicum student life (ASPUST, magazines, etc).
(N) Network – It aims to build stable relationships with external public and private bodies and to promote their involvement. This activity includes: the search for new partners, the organization of meetings and a continuous exchange of information to ensure the highest level of participation and transparency.
(G) Global Monitoring and Evaluation – All programme activities and relationships will be monitored and evaluated, in a continuous improvement process; an annual report will be produced and presented in the yearly public event.
(+) Safeguarding – This new line of action has been introduced in October 2022: a specific formation on safeguarding and its main issues (48 hours) has been added to the STRONG(+) programme so that students may acquire a safeguarding culture and become agents of change in their communities.

CREATE

CST Rome Exchange Advanced Training Experience (CREATE) provides an integrated set of activities regarding education and professional development in Catholic Social Thought, using Rome as a base and aimed at a particular region of the world. Different activities are proposed as part of an integrated set, with the aim of creating synergies between them and greater impact within the region as a whole than would be possible from each individual activity.

Building on our experience of the CST-CEE Initiative (2017-2019), in its first phase (2020 – 2024) CREATE will be focused on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It is composed of five elements:

[EC] Expert Council Meetings: these were a crucial part of network building in the CST-CEE Initiative, and so are maintained in this new version of the project. In 2021 we organized an Expanded Expert Council meeting with most of the experts who contributed to the CUSI project, “The Catholic University between Secularisation and Identity”, updating the results and producing a new publication. In 2022 the group met again with the objective to discuss with the author the work of Philip McDonagh “On the Significance of Religion for Global Diplomacy” (Routledge 2021).
[CP] The CREATE Annual Prize: aimed at raising the profile of CST in the region, the prize will be adjudicated by a Commission of 3-5 members of the Expert Council. The winner will be invited to participate in, and present at, the annual Expert Council meeting, and to create an event or publication of his or her winning essay in his/her home country. The best essays will be published. The 1st publication is available from AUP and collects the best works from 2021.
[SP] Salamanca Process scholarships: these are aimed at doctorate and post-doctorate Dominican candidates from the CEE region, sisters and brothers, as part of the global Salamanca Process of the Dominican order. Building on the example of Francisco Vitoria, who was able to reflect on the information his brothers were providing him on the treatment of the Indios in the New World thus developing the basis of modern international law, the SP aims to create the capacity between Dominican academics and Dominicans out in the field to work together in confronting the challenges of our day. The scholarship holders will come to Rome to study but will remain connected to their home province or congregation, building bridges between the CEE region and Rome and between the local and central institutions of the Dominican order.
[LS] Laudato Si’ doctorate and post-doc projects: these are aimed at young people from the region who will remain in the region but who will come to Rome regularly over a two – three year period to work on a doctorate or on specific post-doc research and publication projects. This format allows participants to benefit from the formation we can offer and from contact with Roman institutions without the cost and disruption of moving to Rome itself and, at the same time, allowing them to be part of, and to strengthen, local institutions in the CEE region.
[TX] CST Toolbox scholarships: a semester-long programme for CEE students in second or third cycle programmes who are looking to deepen their knowledge of CST and of the connected Social Sciences disciplines while in Rome, thus being able to benefit from the presence of the central institutions of the Catholic Church and of some international organisations (Food and Agriculture Organisation, International Development Law Organisation, EU representation …). The first group of 6 students completed their studies in June 2022. A new group will start their studies in January 2023.

The Call for Applications of the CREATE Programme are published in the Announcements section of this website.