Welcome to our department!
The Department of Law and Political, Economic and Social Sciences (DiGSPES) is one of the seven departments that constitute the Università del Piemonte Orientale.
The department is located in Alessandria and is known across Italy for its ample range of courses and excellence in research activity.
The department offers the following degree courses:
- Single-cycle Master’s degree in Law
- 3-year Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies with Political, Economic and Social Sciences
- 3-year Bachelor’s degree in Social Services (located at Asti)
- 3-year Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics
- 3-year Bachelor’s degree in Literature
- Master’s degree in Economics, Business Management and Institutions
- Master’s degree in Local Development and Society
- Master’s degree in Economics and Public, environmental and cultural policies (2nd year only)
The Department also offers:
- two doctoral programmes
- for academic year 2020/2021 (XXXVI cycle) Sustainable and solidarity-based Democracy: rights, duties and institutions (course director Prof. Chiara Tripodina), forming part of the Doctorate in Ecology of cultural and institutional systems
- for academic years 2017/2018, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/2020 (XXXII-XXXV cycles) Autonomies, public services, rights (at DiGSPES, course director Prof. Renato Balduzzi), forming part of the Doctorate in Public, social and cultural institutions: languages, law, history
- Level I Master’s degree
- Economy, Innovation, Communication and Hospitality for the Tourism Industry
- Local Development – Theories and methods for Public Administration (held at Asti)
- Management for coordination of social services in social and health care, health and social work associations.
- Religions, politics and global society
The Department also manages the following structures which carry out research activity:
- Institute of Legal and Economic Sciences (ISGE)
- Institute of Public Policy and Collective Decision-making (POLIS)
- Institute of Social Research
Department Manager: Prof. Serena Quattrocolo.
Key features
You will be the protagonist in your own education
- DiGSPES is a multidisciplinary department. You will be able to take part in seminars, conferences and cultural initiatives organised also within degree courses different from your own.
- The student/teacher ratio is low, so you will receive more attention from teachers.
- Our courses are taught in an innovative and well-organised way, to allow you to study and prepare for exams with a balanced workload
- As well as the constant guidance of teachers, you will be able to turn to tutors to help you organise your study and make informed choices regarding internships, traineeships and post-graduate activity.
You will study in prestigious historic buildings, easy to reach and well-equipped.
- You will follow courses and do research activity in renovated historic buildings: Palazzo Borsalino, in via Cavour in Alessandria, and in the university hub of Asti in piazzale De André for the degree course in Social Work
- You will have access to equipped classrooms with the best technological systems, language and IT labs, centres and research laboratories
- You can study in a library with over 45,000 books available for on-site reference and loans, 443 journals, 869 electronic resources including 45 online databanks.
You will complete your degree according to schedule
- Half of all students enrolled on a 3-year degree course at Piemonte Orientale graduates according to schedule (the national average is 35%, in Turin 42%, in Milan Statale 47%, and in Pavia 58%)
- 72% of all students enrolled on a Master’s degree at Piemonte Oriente graduates according to schedule (the national average is 48%, in Turin 49%, in Milan Statale 58.5%, and in Pavia 68.6%). (Source: National Register of Students, http://anagrafe.miur.it/index.php).
Academic Excellence
Research
Research activity at our department involves all teachers, researchers, PhD students and research assistants, and has received an excellent grading in the Assessment of Research Quality (Source: VQR, MIUR).
The University of Piemonte Orientale in fact ranks 2nd in the Political and Social Sciences category, in 4th place in the Legal Sciences category, and in 26th place in Economic and Statistics Sciences.
Teaching activity
Among our top-quality educational opportunities, we highlight the possibility of pursuing a Double Degree with the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), Tampere (Finland), Rennes1 (France), or Masaryk Brno (Czech Republic).
Students enrolled in the second year of Economics, Management and Institutions may follow courses for one semester or the entire year at the University of Rennes 1 (France), Tampere (Finland) or Fribourg (Switzerland), receiving a seond degree of European Master’s in Public Economics and Public Finance (MGE).
Similarly, at Masaryk University (Czech Republic) it is possible to achieve a second degree to graduate as an Engineer in Economic Policy and Administration.
For information, contact the teacher representative Daniele Bondonio.
Statistics
These are some of the statistics that make our Department an esteemed and student-friendly higher education facility.
- around 1,400 students enrolled on courses
- around 50 tenured teachers and researchers, and 50 contract teachers
- 1 single-cycle Master’s degree course
- 4 Bachelor’s degrees (3-year)
- 2 Master’s degrees
- over 200 teaching modules and lab activities
- 53 Erasmus agreements all over Europe for all the university departments
- research centres and laboratories
- numerous extra-curricular activities
- and also: IT labs, multimedia labs, library, and a highly digitalised environment to support teaching and administrative procedures.