International Profile
Since
its very beginning the University of Calabria has clearly set out the strategies
for the development of its international dimension. Internationalisation procedures
can be well proved by the fact that a good percentage of the academic staff was
recruited from foreign countries, by a large number of Visiting Professors, and
by a small but lively community of foreign students that already lives and studies
on a permanent basis in our university. Moreover, Unical devotes a great effort
in enlarging its international relationships with other universities as well as
with other institutions and organisations.
This constant work has produced
a considerable amount of international co-operations.
The bilateral agreements
established by the University of Calabria with European and other Foreign Universities
during the past twenty years support the co-operation both in the ambit of scientific
and didactic activities.
Great stimulus to the creation of international relationships among higher education
institutions was provided by the launch of European programmes such as ERASMUS,
in the eighties, which gave way to student mobility activities.
In 1996 the
ERASMUS action was included in a larger programme for education called Socrates.
From this point onwards all European Universities/Institutions were requested
to create proper central offices for the management of the activities tied to
exchange programmes. Since then the SOCRATES and Community Projects and Contracts
Office at the University of Calabria has enlarged its partnership both within
the European Union countries and with the East European countries.
Some of
the contacts implemented by the Socrates Office have given way to further developments,
establishing other forms of collaboration. This is the case for some bilateral
international conventions which provide the issue of double degrees to students
participating to the exchanges. Among these we can mention the conventions established
by our Faculty of Economics with the Manchester Metropolitan University (UK),
the University of Applied Sciences – Fachhochschule Bochum (Germany), and
the Nizhny Novgorod State University (Russia).
The agreement with the Nizhny
Novgorod State University lead in 1992 to the creation of a Russian Italian University
finalised to the reciprocal recognition of degrees, organisation of joint scientific
research and technology transfer. This initiative was very positive for the relationship
action plan between the Italian Republic and Russia which was signed in 1998 by
Mr. Romano Prodi and Mr. Boris Eltsin.
Other than the previously specified
co-operations, the University of Calabria has greatly experienced other initiatives
in programmes such as TEMPUS, LEONARDO DA VINCI and LINGUA. Unical also
participates to a conspicuous number of thematic networks within the SOCRATES
programme. Furthermore, it has a permanent course entitled to “Jean Monnet”
on “The Agricultural Policies of the European Union”.
Apart from
the participation to programmes co-financed by the E.U., the University of Calabria
has well established contacts with world organisations such as FAO, UNESCO of
the United Nations, and OECD.
The future mission of the University of Calabria
for what concerns internationalisation is aimed at the further development of
other transnational projects, improving both research and didactics. But the didactic
and scientific improvements are not the sole results of transnational projects.
Our hope is that our greater emphasis on transnationality will also widespread
the awareness of our citizenship as Europeans. In fact, more than ever, our attention
will be centred on the extension of this new awareness towards a multicultural
society not only within the university community but also in the surrounding community
as a whole. This represents one of the most important priorities to be accomplished
by the University of Calabria.
Check
out the list of our Partner Universities
