UNIVERSITY

The reasons behind a new University

During the academic year 2002-2003 the Italian University System had more than three thousand active degree courses. To this day the numbers have further grown, so much so that some may be led to believe that the academic courses offered are more than enough and there is no room for new proposals.

However, a more detailed and in-depht analysis reveals that that the weak point of our university system is mainly related to quality issues (insufficient appetibility of the professional profiles produced by the university on the part of the labour market) and to functional issues (a sometimes weak response to the new basic needs of the new professional profiles).

The reasons behind the introduction of 'yet another subject' into the system, namely another university, may concern quality and functionality aspects. In this context we believe that eCampus Online University deserves the credit and the merit to give its contribution to the update and development of the Italian university system, proposing innovative degree courses (psychoeconomics) and educational pathways closely related to the satisfaction of the peculiar demands of the social, productive, and economic fabric of the country, characterised by new didactic and organizational teaching methods and inclusive approaches addressed to particular types of students (working students, disabled, international students residing abroad).

  1. The educational proposal provided by eCampus University interprets innovatively (see the following profiles) the demand for specialist expertise, taking into account both the most recent technical-scientific developments and the most basic requirements of the social-economic system.
    For this purpose we have taken into consideration degree classes which could answer to these needs, favoring the engineering based ones, such as civil and environmental engineering, automation engineering and industrial engineering.

  2. Even though it is true that few engineers earn their degrees in Italy, it is also true that Italy needs doctors, lawyers, experts in tourism, cultural heritage and arts, communications, up to the challenges and the complexities that said professions imply, in respect of a quantitatively important, qualitatively elevated and differenciated, socio-economic demand. For instance, globalization entails a strong demand for rules, justifying the need for more legal experts.
    Documentation on eCampus University educational proposal: the reasons behind a choice. In order to deal with these demands, eCampus University has chosen degree classes such as political and social sciences, economic sciences, literature, sciences and techniques of psychology, science and techniques of visual arts, music, and of the performing arts, design and the art of fashion.

  3. Obviously, such selection implies particular elements of novelty, in line with the needs of the country, ally applied to the degree courses proposed. The organization of new learning pathways entails particular attention to basic knowledge but is also attentive to the new demands proposed by the productive and social systems, mainly characterized by issues related to ecology, environmental safety, financial interest, protection of the cultural heritage, welfare and quality of life, energy saving, use of new technologies, entertainment, and fashion.

  4. Furthermore, the selection of the degree classes operated by eCampus University shall take into account the scientific value, and therefore the potentiality of basic and applied research on the various disciplines proposed. Thus, we did not only adopt the criteria dictated by economic viability, but we also took into account technical-scientific development and cultural criteria.

  5. Moreover, eCampus University's educational offer is mainly addressed to the market, not forgetting the needs and interests of the students planning to become engineers, executives and psychologists. Said subjects have indeed a consistent and profound need to belong, to be a part of a socio-economic context which should recognize them, give them value, offer them real perspectives for professional and human growth. For this reason, eCampus University proposes carefully planned degree courses whose main focus is to ensure integration, and train new experts with practical skills, not experts for their own sake.

To sum up, our educational offer goes way beyond science for the sake of knowledge, thus promoting science in the making. Within this new approach, scientists are an integral part of the reaserch and application process, assuming their own responsibility, broadening their view of the world, their values and abilities (competencies) and their sense of belonging to the situation in which they operate in a much-needed response to the request coming from the complexity of the man-world system.

eCampus University is the result of a correct application of a complex thought to a learning issue: a pivotal problem in a reality where everyone is required to re-learn how to work, organize, live, and relate to the others. Such academic model, goes beyond the traditional fortress of knowledge is getting closer and closer to a model of knowledge and competence whose aim is not to train notion-filled experts, but rather 'proper' experts.