Political and social sciences

The Faculty of Political and Social Sciences has been at the heart of the project of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore since its origins with the degree programme in Social Sciences (1921). Together with the degree programme in Philosophical Sciences (one of the first two of the University), then with the School of Political, Economic and Social Sciences (1926), which awarded degrees in Political and Social Sciences and in Economic Sciences, Father Agostino Gemelli wished to form "young people trained in the study of economic, political and social disciplines", thus able to contribute to addressing the key problems of Italian society. The School was followed by the Faculty of Political Science (1931) and the Faculty of Sociology (2001). 

Tradition, Identity and Principles

The Faculty of Political and Social Sciences follows in the footsteps of a centuries-old tradition with the focus on preserving the cultural identity of a faculty in a Catholic university, to be declined, with the utmost openness, in the formulation of the educational offer, in the awareness on the part of the teachers of their role as educators, in the response to the problems and challenges of the contemporary world. This identity is reflected in the tendency to place the cardinal principles of the common good, dignity of the person, solidarity and subsidiarity at the centre of political and social sciences, both in research and teaching.

Method: an interpretative and open knowledge

The Faculty of Political and Social Sciences is characterized by a method that combines cultural training, aimed at understanding the complex systems of the contemporary world, and professional preparation, which offers skills that can be immediately used in the labor market. This method is based on a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, which brings together different political and social disciplines, such as law, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, history and is also practiced by experimenting with interdisciplinary forms of curricular teaching, particularly in graduate degree programmes. Multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity are aimed at acquiring the ability to interpret phenomena and deal with problems by grasping their multiple dimensions and giving graduates a flexible profile that is open to the development of new skills. The latter is a particularly valuable trait for the professional future in an economic and social context that is constantly and rapidly changing.

Academic community

The academic life revolves around the principles that guide a community of students and professors, which values the relational dimension. This is favoured in the small Faculty, with an optimal ratio between the number of students and lecturers, which allows the establishment of personalised relationships, in the context of which the student is helped to outline his or her own educational path among the many options available.

Internationalization

The Faculty has a specific focus on internationalization, which is also part of the tradition of both faculties of origin and in particular of the Faculty of Political Science, which boasts among its honorary graduates eminent international personalities such as Jacques Delors, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Corazon C. Aquino, Shimon Peres, Michel Camdessus, Helmut Kohl, Romano Prodi, José María Aznar, Irina Bokova.
Today, attention to internationalization is achieved first and foremost in the training profiles: both in the specific content of the courses, in compliance with the standards shared by the international academic community, and by enhancing the presence of visiting scholars, when possible in curricular teaching or in special seminars. International student mobility is also promoted in the context of the Erasmus project and in other similar programmes dedicated to non-European countries, in which many students of the Faculty participate every year.

Since the academic year 2016/2017, the International Relations and Global Affairs (IRGA) curriculum has been activated within the degree programme in Political Sciences and International Relations, and, since the academic year 2020/2021, within the degree programme in Communication and Society, the Communication management curriculum has been activated. Fashion, food and material cultures (COMMA), both offered primarily to foreign students, whose teachings are all taught entirely in English. Finally, as part of the graduate degree programme in European and International Politics, there is a double degree with the German University of Halle-Wittenberg, which allows you to obtain, together with the Italian one, the title of Master of Science in "Europäische Integration und Internationale Wirtschaft" issued by the twinned university. Other joint training courses with universities in other countries are being developed. 

Training

The Faculty's articulated educational offer is characterized by a solid multidisciplinary basic training at the level of degree programmes, also common to the immediately professionalizing path in Social Work Sciences, on which is grafted a range of graduate degree programmes mainly oriented, in many cases even in their names, to policies.
The unifying vision is that political, social and economic systems, at local, national and international level, are not self-regulating, but need explicit interventions aimed at pursuing objectives of efficiency and social well-being. The design, governance and management of the related policies in a subsidiary perspective involve both public institutions, understood in the traditional sense, in the various levels of government, and private individuals, as well as intermediate bodies and organizations of the Third Sector, which also in many cases perform public functions.
At the level of undergraduate degree programmes, the Faculty's educational proposal focuses on the study of all these subjects and the society in which they operate, in order to develop professionals capable of contributing to their design and management. There are courses dedicated to institutions, private and third sector organizations, to the analysis of social phenomena and organizational processes, to work and social service, to the role of communication, which increasingly pervasively affects the effectiveness of political and social action.
The range of policies to which the training courses of the graduate degree programmes are dedicated ranges from European and international policies, to those for families, minors and communities, to those for international development cooperation, up to, in the context of the graduate degree in Public Policies, to welfare policies, sustainable development, security. Also in the second level of training, attention to organizational and communication issues continues in the graduate degree in Labor Management and Communication for Organizations.
The Faculty aims to train people who work in these contexts both at the level of the management team and at the level of middle managers and operators. In general, it is very easy to enter the world of work.