DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The proposal for a new Master's Degree Course entitled "Economics and Technologies for Sustainability" arises directly from the need to respond to the growing demand for interdisciplinary skills to address the challenges of environmental sustainability. Consultations with the business world and various organisations have highlighted the lack of a didatic offer that integrates economic, scientific, legal and social aspects of realizing environmental sustainability, responding holistically to the needs of the labor market.
The Master's Degree Course in Economics and Technologies for Sustainability aims to provide advanced education and training in rapidly evolving fields belonging to both economic sciences and scientific disciplines. The Master's Degree Course provides holistic training in the field of environmental sustainability and its implementation in three key contexts: i) economic and business economic context; ii) context related to the management of renewable and non-renewable resources and production; iii) context related to energy sustainability.
The program of the Course focuses on the training of a professional figure capable of achieving environmental sustainability in modern societies and communities, covering the skills necessary for its identification, description, implementation, quantification, certification and valorization. The Master's Degree Course aims to train professionals to be experts in sustainability, representing Sustainability Specialists, or Tech-Economists of Sustainability, with advanced skills in the use of cutting-edge methodological tools, both from an operational perspective and in terms of awareness of the interconnections between different disciplines. The program integrates inter and transdisciplinary knowledge essential to address the complex challenges of environmental sustainability and its practical application, covering areas ranging from economics to science, up to including legal and socio-political aspects. The Master's Degree Course therefore provides solid and advanced training in economic and business economics, to allow Master's graduates to manage companies based on the realization of sustainability and to enhance their innovations in the environmental field. With regard to data processing and analysis, the Course provides advanced training, providing in-depth knowledge and skills in the field of statistics, simulations and economic models, in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Master's Degree Course jointly offers an in-depth study of the key aspects of sustainable management of resources, both renewable and non-renewable, of the production and nature of products in the sense of circular economy, sustainable energy and energy management. These issues will be addressed in the light of modern carbon footprint management and using key concepts such as, for example, assessments based on the life cycle of products (life cycle assessment) and their recycling. The certification of environmental sustainability and its verification are other important topics addressed by the new Master's Degree Course. The socio-political aspects related to the implementation of environmental sustainability in different existing realities, together with the communication of sustainability in various contexts, will be addressed to complete an advanced training in the field of sustainability.
The Master's Degree Course belongs to the class LM-76 'Economic sciences for the environment and culture', has a duration of two years and provides for the acquisition of 120 university training credits (CFU) required to obtain the title, according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). The Master's Degree Course is taught entirely in English and includes mandatory characterizing courses, mandatory multiple-choice courses among related and integrative subjects, the possibility to freely choose one additional course, additional language skills, a mandatory internship and a final thesis. A four-year part-time training program has been prepared for students who cannot attend the Course regularly.
The Master's Degree Course in Economics and Technologies for Sustainability is not of restricted admission. Admission to the course is based on specific curricular requirements and an assessment of personal preparation through an interview with a commission composed of professors of the Master's Degree Course. A B2 level of knowledge of the English language is also required. The Master's Degree Course is taught in a mixed mode, i.e., will use oth lectures in presence and online, with the latter being synchronous and asynchronous. Different teaching methodologies and delivery methods will be used to carry out lessons and laboratory activities, including group research work, such as: problem-solving activities, decision-making, reflective practice, peer-to-peer learning and flipped-classroom experiences, debates and seminars on issues concerning environmental sustainability and its implementation. The alternation between lessons and laboratories, to introduce and elaborate the various topics almost exclusively in the form of complex case studies that highlight the transdisciplinary nature of the individual aspects of sustainability in the various teachings, will be completed with visits to production sites and practical analyses of processes and products and through interventions by various Italian andforeign experts. The inter- and transdisciplinary approach will be guaranteed by the particular structure of most of the courses that include the presence of multiple modules taught by professors belonging to different scientific-disciplinary sectors, often also in co-presence during the lessons. This type of approach will allow the analysis of the case studies presented from multiple points of view, providing a holistic vision of the environmental sustainability issues addressed.
Upon completion of the course, Master's graduates are awarded the title of Master of Economics and Technologies for Sustainability. This qualification allows access to second level Masters and PhDs in both Economics and Science offered by the University of Milan-Bicocca or other national and international academic institutions, according to the rules established by the respective institutions.
The acquisition of theoretical and practical knowledge in both economic and scientific disciplines relating to the opportunities and challenges linked to the achievement of environmental sustainability represents a distinctive element in the Italian panorama of master's degrees belonging to this class or similar classes. This Course is in fact the only one in Italy designed to train the holistic figure of the Sustainability Specialist, an expert in technologies and applied economics, representing the Techeconomist of sustainability at a national and international level.
Only the first year of the master's program will be activated in the academic year 2025/2026.
