In the Spring semester the Globalization Program focuses on Sustainable Development and International Management, offering a set of advanced courses, a dissertation workshop and research activities in companies, universities, research centers and cultural institutions abroad.
The Program aims at developing an interdisciplinary in depth examination on the theme of globalization and sustainable development and is addressed to advanced undergraduates and Master's students, especially those in their final year, who wish to write a final dissertation on the themes of globalization and sustainable development.
Core Courses
Globalization, Environment and Sustainable Development
Ignazio Musu (Scientific Coordinator), Venice International University
Globalization has important impacts on the environment, that must beconsidered in order to achieve sustainable development. Environmental issueshave gained center-stage in economic analysis and policy-making, and theirurgency has opened new opportunities in terms of technological innovation andentrepreneurship.
The course will cover different themes, starting from the introductionof the sustainable development concept and the illustration of the Millennium Development Goals. The case study of China will be considered as representative of the relationship between economic development andenvironmental issues.
The course will also explore the role of firms forsustainable development, considering Corporate Social Responsibility and Industrial ecology. Finally the course will study, from different perspectives, climate change as one of the main global environmental issue, consideringscientific evidences, energy implications and policies in climate change.
Through an interdisciplinary perspective, the course will providestudents with key competences and instruments for the analysis of natural and environmental resources in a sustainable perspective and for the development of policies oriented towards the promotion of sustainable development processesboth at a national and international level.
International Management: Managing Global Value Chains
Stefano Micelli (Scientific Coordinator), Venice International University
In the last fifteen years, economic integration has been moving fasterand farther throughout the world and there has been much discussion about"globalization" and its consequences. Particular attention has been devoted tothe themes of regional competitiveness and development as well as to the managerial implications of globalization. The course aims to frame the debateon globalization while highlighting the impacts of the international integration of markets for goods, labor and technologies on companies,territories and local production systems.
The central aim isto focus on how companies and firms can developand become more competitive in today's global economy. During the course, theglobal value chains approach (GVC) will be presented and discussed, offering to students an industry-centric view of economic globalization that highlights the linkages between economic actors and across geographic space.
This course will expose students to current theories regarding international competitiveness and will encourage them to undertake innovative, interdisciplinary research projects onglobal industries. Finally, it will provide a team project experience indesigning and evaluating research connected to contemporary global issues.
Courses on offer in the Spring 2011 Semester Program recommended to Globalization Program students:
- National and Regional Identities in an Age of Globalization
- Is cultural sustainability an attainable goal?
- Global Justice and Fairness beyond Borders. Fighting Hunger and Poverty
- Trust and Cooperation
- From Colonialism to Postcolonialism in Literature and the Arts
- Modernity in Europe, America and East-Asia
- Art and Exchange: Venice as a Center of the Global Market
- Migrant Cultures in the United States and Italy
- Identity, Language and Communicative Practices in Contemporary Italy
- A Cultural History of Tea
- Western Images of Japan
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