DEHEMS project. Description of professional domains SOCIOLOGY. Country: Italy

Transcription

1 DEHEMS project Description of professional domains SOCIOLOGY Country: Italy 1

2 1 Which study fields/study areas are covered by this professional domain? ISCED 31 Social and behavioral sciences 311 Psychology 312 Sociology and cultural studies 313 Political science and civics 15 - Scienze politiche e delle relazioni internazionali 34 - Scienze e tecniche psicologiche 36 - Scienze sociologiche 49/S - Metodi per la ricerca empirica nelle scienze sociali 58/S - Psicologia 70/S - Scienze della politica 89/S - Sociologia L-24 - Scienze e tecniche psicologiche L-36 - Scienze politiche e delle relazioni internazionali L-40 - Sociologia LM-51 - Psicologia LM-62 - Scienze della politica LM-88 - Sociologia e ricerca sociale ISCED 3 field of education includes a broad number of higher education study fields, among which, ISCED 31 social and behavioral sciences class. As for most higher education fields, the whole legislation had renewed the natural science area in 1999 with partially amendments in 2004 and , to enact at upmost Bologna process framework. Such renewals had included study fields revision, degrees, programs duration and contents. Nowadays, with concern to ISCED 311, 312 and 313 classes, a number of three ISCED 5A three years full time equivalent long first degree programs (denominated Laurea L) and three ISCED 5A two years full time equivalent long second degree programs (Laurea Magistrale or Specialistica LM) have been stated by Ministry of education, university and research (Ministero dell educazione, università e ricerca MIUR), according with National University Committee (Consiglio Universitario Nazionale CUN). Higher education programs are administered by public or private legally recognized universities main reform issues, with regard to most study fields, consisted of pre reform programs split: from the originally four to five years long ISCED 5A first level degrees, programs had been reorganized as above mentioned, allowing students to reach the first level degree after three years full time equivalent programs and then attend further two years to achieve an ISCED 5A second level degree. For those students willing to continue gaining more pragmatic knowledge, a number of Master programs, having generally a length of one year, are autonomously settled by universities in order to further train graduates from ISCED 5A first or second level on specific topics. Finally, a number of ISCED 6 philosophy doctorate are available to those graduates having successful completed LM programs. 1 For further details see MIUR decrees n. 509/1999, n. 270/2004, n. 386/2007, n. 544/2007 and the Ministry decree issued on March, the 16 th,

3 Successful completion of programs leads to legally recognized degrees. Graduates can be employed in a wide number of occupations, within both public and private sector. For some profession, such as psychologist, further exam and the enrollment to the related national council of psychologist is required to practice for those graduate having successful reached an ISCED 5A first degree (for junior practitioner position) and second degree (for fully recognized practitioner positions). The table below sketches the range of programs, their duration, ISCED field of education and potential occupations of the graduates in the professional domain. Perspective careers for the graduates of the different classes within the professional domain Program Duration (y.) ISCED Occupation L-24 Psychology and psychological techniques Scienze e tecniche psicologiche Junior psychologist L-36 Political sciences Scienze politiche e delle relazioni internazionali Positions within public or private organizations; appointed for public relations, human resources mgt, social and economic research, marketing, cultural events mgt, ect L-40 Sociology Sociologia Sociologist LM-51 Psychology Psicologia Senior psychologist LM-62 Political sciences Scienze della politica LM-88 Sociology and sociological research Sociologia e ricerca sociale Policy researcher; Expert for public relations, human resources mgt, social and economic research, marketing, cultural events mgt, ect Sociologist, sociology researcher 3

4 2 Which types of institutions are offering this professional domain? Italian higher education has always been administered by public and legally recognized private Universities, according to national regulation and under the MIUR policy and control. With regard to the natural science study fields, among the existing 95 universities, 47 institutions offer programs within ISCED 31 field of education. More precisely, there are 47 entities administering political sciences programs, 45 administering psychology programs and 14 administering sociology programs. Programs are mainly taught by faculties of psychology, political sciences and sociology but there are also some programs jointly administered by more than one faculties and, in some cases, depending on universities tradition and organization, the mentioned programs are administered by faculties other than the herein above mentioned. Moreover, with concern to political science study area, there have been settled programs joining other study area, such as economics, international studies, history or sociology. 3 Please give a quantitative overview about the professional domain 3.1 Number of offered study programs and number of HEI offering the program As detailed above, with regard to the natural science study fields, among the existing 95 universities, 43 institutions offer programs within ISCED 4 field of education. Programs are taught by faculties of Engineering. 3.2 Number of enrolled students (increasing/decreasing?) Looking at the enrolment rates in first degree courses, after a significant increase between 2003 and 2005, the picture shows a rather stable trend with possibly a slight increase in the past couple of years. The number of students reported for the last academic year could still be marginally changed due to the fact that the data is still partial and thus it is possible that the actual number of students is in line with the previous years. In terms of second degree courses, there is a consistent increase throughout the time span. In terms of gender distribution, female students outnumber significantly the male students, especially in the second degree courses where the proportion is currently 4 to 1 (while in first degree courses the proportion is 2 to 1). Enrolment in Sociology and political studies Domain first degree courses by gender (2003/ /10) 2003/ / / / / / /2010 Fe Males Total

5 Enrolment in Sociology and political studies Domain second degree courses by gender (2003/ /10) 2003/ / / / / / /2010 Fe Males Total Number of graduates (last available cohort) Number of graduates in Sociology and political studies Domain courses by gender, nationality and cycle (2008/09) first degree second degree Italy - citizenship - Italy - citizenship The last available data pertains to the cohort of 2008/09 graduates. The data shows that the number of graduates amounts to roughly 10% of the number of students enrolled in the same year in the first degree courses and to roughly 20% of the second degree courses. Female enrolment and graduation is substantially higher, both in the first and second cycle courses PhD quota, gender distribution, migration background and quota of foreing PhD students The most recent data related to Ph.D. graduates and Ph.D. enrolled refers to academic year Looking at the gender distribution of Ph.D. students, fe outnumber male students in Ph.D. courses in Sociology and Political Sciences while outnumber female students in Psichological, geographical and antrophological sciences courses. 5

6 PhD students by area, gender, migration background (2006/07) Area Total enrolment Number of foreign students Social and political science Psichological, geographical and antrophological sciences Male Female Total Male Female In terms of PhD graduates, the number of graduates is roughly the same in Social and political science courses, while fe outnumber male PhDs by 2 to 1 in Psichological, geographical and antrophological sciences. PhD graduates by area, gender, migration background (2006/07) Area Total enrolment Number of foreign students Social and political science Psichological, geographical and antrophological sciences Male Female Total Male Female In terms of number of enrolled PhD Students in relation to number of second-cycle graduates, the situation was: Italy - citizenship - Italy - citizenship - Italy Total foreign 37,55% 236,84% 105,90% 600,00% 39,62% 111,54% 50,76% 312,50% 6

7 In terms of number of PhD graduates in relation to number of second-cycle graduates the situation was: Italy - citizenship - Italy - citizenship - Italy Total foreign 8,48% 28,95% 26,47% 80,00% 8,69% 27,09% 11,96% 39,58% 4 Please give for each study program covered by the professional domain a short descriptions referring to the following aspects The sociology and political science professional domain is covered by the Higher education psychology, sociology and political science fields, as listed within part of ISCED 31 classes of education. Programs are mainly administered by Faculties of psychology, sociology and political science though there are programs are taught by different faculties and some other programs are jointly administered by more than one faculties. There are only a limited number of ISCED 5A first and second levels programs within the present study area but, differently from most of other study field programs, second level programs are more flexible and emphasize on specific topics, although students graduate within the same MIUR and ISCED classes. First level programs (Laurea L) are: L-24 Psychology, L-36 Political science and L-40 Sociology. Programs courses are mainly settled by MIUR. More in details, first year courses are strictly planned with the aim to theoretically train students on core and basic knowledge. From the second to the third year, emphasized courses are though, depending on chosen program, and some of them are chosen by students among settled lists of topics. Internship are also required to successful complete programs; psychology and sociology internships are attended within health and social services organizations, whilst political science students can chose among a wider range of productive sector internships. Second level programs (Laurea Magistrale LM) shall be attended by those students having successful completed L programs. Such programs aims to deepen L programs specific emphasis and taught courses have the main aim to train student on both theoretical and pragmatic selected topics. LM programs are: LM-51 Psychology, LM-62 Political science and LM-88 Sociology. As mentioned, differently from most MIUR study area, LM-51 and LM-88 classes allows universities to settle emphasized programs. 5 Please summarize the general impact of Bologna on this study field as well as the general issues discussed in this regard With regard to the impact the Bologna process had had on the natural science professional domain, it should be noted higher education system had been in depth renewed since As already mentioned, ISCED 311, 312 and 313 fields of education study programs had, before legislative renewal, a four or five year duration, where, after the first two years of generalist and core courses, students approached the study of specific field topics. Nowadays, first level programs have a three years duration and students are endowed with both core and basic field specific knowledge. Then, attending the second level programs, they mainly improve on field specific topics. Despite the programs 7

8 reorganization, it should underlined psychology and sociology programs contents have not been widely modified. On opposite, political science programs contents had been subject to in depth revision. Indeed, before 1999, the latter study area involved several different emphasis: sociology, history, economics, organizational studies, international relations. First years courses were common to all students, whilst from second to fourth year, students were required to chose a specific emphasis. After 1999, L-36 program has been reformed and preceding emphasized programs had been included within other study area and MIUR classes. Nowadays, political science program includes a wide range of topics, such as economics, history, organizational studies, public management, sociology, law, statistics and foreign languages, with the aim to yield students with a interdisciplinary knowledge, avoiding those emphasis existing before reform. Some universities have settled jointly programs referring to more than one MIUR classes, such as L-36 plus L-16 (public administration management and organizational studies) or L-33 (economics). 5.1 Please describe the role of stakeholders in this professional domain The whole Higher education system is settled by law, in Italy. Last 10 years reform began with MIUR Decree 509 in 1999 in accordance with Bologna Process. Public and private universities are legally recognized institutions and issue legally recognized degrees. For most of study fields, including the natural science one, stakeholders lists is limited to MIUR, CUN and universities. Some profession are also regulated by National professional orders (psychologist and sociologist). Such professional associations are legally recognized as well, although they are not strongly involved with higher education issues. Nevertheless, Council are in charge for practitioners behavior and ethic issues. 6 Please describe the transition process from Higher Education to the Labor market Transition to labor market within the sociology and political science domain has a relevant number of pathways. Due to the wide range of taught topics, any productive sector is eligible to offer job position to graduate from ISCED 31 field of education. Graduate mainly are employed in positions requiring core social science knowledge, within private sector area such as sales, marketing, general management, human resource management. Within public sector political science graduates can be employed in public national and supra national organizations in a number of positions. Such positions often require to pass public selection to be hired. For those graduate willing to practice the fully recognized profession, National legislation settles rules, requiring further exams and enrollment within National Councils to get the license. For the present domain, moreover, secondary level teaching is also a job opportunity. In this latter case, national law settles rules to enter the public and private education sector. 7 Are there any domain specific data sources or regular research conducted (e.g. surveys, statistics by an association); Please describe the main findings? Technical descriptions should be part of 4_DOP_ProfessionalDomains) 8 Is the Life Long Learning Process in any way regulated/demanded for graduates of this professional domain? If yes, who regulates it and what are the general rules? Life long learning system, within the sociology and political science professional domain, is strictly regulated by law for those practitioners enrolled within the psychology and sociology national councils. For those practicing the mentioned legally recognized professions life long learning is required as for medical doctors, for a number of hours per years. Remaining practitioners are not compelled to attend further courses all life long but it is frequent they attend programs having different length and on several topics. Such courses, although not compelled, have the aim to constantly upgrade practitioners knowledge and are often organized or paid by employers. 8