This three-year Degree Program aims to train experts prepared to hold professional positions, both domestic and international, calling for operative action, leadership, training others, and quality control/management in the following fields:
• environmental safety; food safety; and health and safety (SAAS)
• human safety and peace keeping support (SUSP)
This program is clearly interdisciplinary in nature; its aim is provide thoughtfully designed professional training that prepares students to work in today’s complex civil security field (environmental, food-related, health-related, human) and well as in the military security arena- wherein public officials and international organizations are called to intervene in a broad range of capacities. This is a highly innovative project within the Italian academic landscape. In fact, it is distinctly different from both L-37 Programs (Social Sciences for cooperation, development and peace), which focus mainly on a social science- based approach, and Strategic Sciences programs, which have a purely military basis (such as programs offered by the Universities of Turin and Modena-Reggio Emilia).
By conceptualizing security in its various connotations and considering its broad range of practical applications, this three-year Program includes elements of socio-politics, law/ economics, and technical-scientific subjects. From an organizational standpoint, it relies on the participation of various Departments of the University of Sassari as well as upon various internships and training opportunities provide by qualified Army professionals through specifically designed modules.
The Program is directed towards three types of students:
-high school graduates with marked interest in themes of human rights, international cooperation and development, internal and external security;
-military personnel wishing to further competence in L-DS subjects related to coordination, management and leadership in functional-organizational systems (military and non-military) such as international cooperation for development, support and peace-keeping operations, and assistance in the aftermath of natural disasters;
- public administration officials wishing to specialize in the civil protection sector.
With regard to academic structure, the Program is organized in two phases:
The first phase is the same for all incoming students and its aim is to provide fundamentals in various relevant subjects such as mathematics, IT, physics, chemistry, biology, socio-politics, economics, law, international law, geography and history.
The second phase involves more specialized training and branches out into at least two distinct directions:
(a) Training in environmental, food and health safety. Acquired competencies allow a graduate to become a multifaceted professional with technical/scientific know-how in applied physical and natural sciences, agronomics, and health. The main functions of such experts in environmental, food and health safety can be divided into two categories:
1. Emergency work, including but not limited to: technical coordination of first aid intervention in health emergencies requiring provision of resources (water, food, energy) in the aftermath of natural disasters or in warzones; coordination and technical direction of refugee camps; technical/logistic management of humanitarian aid in the health and food sectors.
2. Prevention and control, including but not limited to: technical coordination of public policy aimed at preventing environmental disasters; technical management of public policy promoting public health, environmentally sustainable water/food/energy supply as well as appropriate practices in the promotion and safeguarding of human health and the environment; technical-professional consultancy; training and activities related to official control (inspections, sampling, audits, monitoring and surveillance) of best practices in public programs geared towards safeguarding human health and environmental protection.
(b) Training in the field of human security and peace-keeping support. Graduates acquire interdisciplinary competency in human sciences, socio-politics, and operational economics. The main functions of the resulting professional roles are differentiated into emergency-based and prevention-based work:
1. Emergency-based work, including but not limited to: coordination and management of communication strategies within operational units and with the public; coordination and management of negotiation activities; coordination of domestic and international political/administrative bodies; personnel selection and economic/administrative management of crisis units; strategic risk analysis; leadership of operative units tasked with evaluating resources and assessing the impact of emergency response policies;
2. Prevention and control, including but not limited to: planning and implementing international crisis reporting systems; monitoring of security and peace keeping operations with regard to efficiency and efficacy; coordination and direction of security/coordination/peace-keeping policy impact analyses; coordination and implementation of needs-assessment programs with regard to humanitarian aid needs of a given population; coordination and implementation of analyses with regard to human rights violations in populations requiring humanitarian aid.
