UNIPACE international postgraduate education programmes

Vision & Global Trends proudly announces its partnership with the International University for Peace of Rome (UNIPACE), office of the United Nations University for Peace.

The partnership aims to the promotion and the intermediation regarding the recently launched UNIPACE international postgraduate education programmes, both focused on studies on the China-led “Belt and Road Initiative”.

Presentation of the University

The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an intergovernmental organization with University status, established by treaty at the United Nations General Assembly in 1980 and having its main campus in Costa Rica. Its stated mission is “to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations”.

The current Rector of UPEACE is Dr. Francisco Rojas Aravena. The creation of the University for Peace was set in motion by a treaty and endorsed by resolution 34/111 of 14 December 1979 of the United Nations General Assembly. By this Resolution, the UN General Assembly established an international commission which, in collaboration with the Government of Costa Rica, was requested to prepare the organization, structure and setting in motion of the University for Peace.

Thereafter, by Resolution 35/55 of 5 December 1980, the UN General Assembly endorsed the treaty establishing the University for Peace by adopting the International Agreement for the Establishment of the University for Peace (UPEACE) along with the Charter of the University for Peace. The University has the unique status of not only being a dedicated institution for higher education in Peace and Conflict studies, but also an international treaty body organization mandated by the United Nations General Assembly.

It offers master’s degree and doctoral programmes (now starting our blended program focused on the Belt Road Initiative in Rome) at its main headquarters in San José, Costa Rica, and carries out various activities related to the international peace and security objectives of the United Nations (UN) through centres and offices located in Rome, Addis Abeba, New York, Honduras, Geneva, Bonn, The Hague, Manila and Beijing, and through partnership arrangements with numerous other institutions worldwide.

The University for Peace is part of the academic wing of the UN system, and has observer status at the UN General Assembly, while maintaining its independence in academic, financial and management matters. The UN Secretary-General is the Honorary President of UPEACE.

The UN General Assembly maintains a constant interest in the activities of UPEACE, and in periodic resolutions calls on the UN Secretary-General to report to it on its activities.

Accordingly, the UN Secretary-General reports to the General Assembly of the UN periodically on the progress of UPEACE. The Council of the University for Peace is the supreme authority of the University.

It is composed of five ex-officio members viz. the Rector, two representatives designated by the UN Secretary-General and by the Director-General of the UNESCO, the Rector of the United Nations University, two representatives designated by the Government of the host country and the Chancellor of UPEACE. In addition, the Council comprises ten representatives of the academic community or other persons eminent in the field of peace and security appointed by the Secretary-General of the UN in consultation with the Director-General of the UNESCO.

The University has “unique world-wide authorization to award academic degrees, recognized by all countries which are members of the General Assembly”.

The Italian Office – The Entrusted Entity

In November 2015 University for Peace (UPEACE, Costa Rica) governing bodies signed a cooperation agreement with President prof.eng. Gianni Cara, already responsible for Europe of the ‘World Organization for Peace’. The agreement established a delegated office in Italy, which works alongside other existing offices in Holland, in Japan, in Philippines, in Chile, and Ethiopia.

The International University for Peace – Rome – was identified by UPEACE as the legal entity with the task to establish the Roman office, whose aim is to provide innovative and qualified courses. Furthermore, there were established a headquarters in Rome and a Device Operations Section based in Naples (Complesso Altamira), located in a very innovative business accelerator area.

It is committed to creating and sustaining the conditions to become a model for cross-university collaboration, and to expand and to reach East and Southern Europe, the Mediterranean area, the Middle East, the Equatorial Africa, the Sub-Saharan Africa.

THE BELT ROAD INITIATIVE PROGRAM

The BRI can be considered as the largest international cooperation plan of the century, paving the way to many opportunities as well as challenges in need for a response. So we designed a program, including an MBA and two PhDs focused on this complex topic as it needs a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary approach to be explored and studied and understood completely, in order to fully unlock its potential. Meanwhile, UNIPACE will generate its own BRI knowledge database, of critical relevance for all BRI Partners: in this way, contributing the objective of grasping the ‘triangle’ connecting education, research and innovation.

Uniting key fields, our research projects interact on an unprecedented level. The core objective of this program will focus on the ‘sharing’ element, where knowledge and research outputs, as well as their related benefits, will be shared among participants and their Home Institutions in the name of global cooperation and peaceful coexistence, the only real warranty for the future. This way, so

‘BRIdge the gap’ could be our motto and the best wish for all students, who would like to follow this international path with the potential to make a global impact.

The BRI could be the most important contemporary geopolitical tool of our century. We must appreciate the Chinese determination to promote dialogue of minds and cultural exchanges and UNIPACE President, Prof. Eng. Gianni Cara, hopes that his students become modern-day Marco Polos, as cultural ambassadors among China and all its Partners, as he has the awareness that innovation can make the difference in training, and can become the most powerful personal growth driver.

Postgraduate Programmes

Master in Business Administration (MBA)

Academic Supervisor: Prof. Valerio MALVEZZI

The UNIPACE MBA is an intensive blended programme tailored for high-performing professionals who want to further improve their careers and their work profiles.

Following a competitive selection process, this MBA delivers a one-year long condensed learning experience through teamwork, personalized feedback, coaching, and curated readings, to take fast-tracked leaders to a higher level.

Key programme benefits: master management skills in highly diversified business, social and political environments; develop the mindset of an entrepreneur (creativity, capability of taking risks and managing the unknown with confidence); become a more reflective, self-aware and strategic member of a general managment team; develop yourself, your organization and your career path.

With one coach every ten students, we are able to closely follow our students in their activities and their work.

UNIPACE delivers the programme via in-person classes, integrated with its highly innovative platform, which enables access to a wide variety of online contents as video lessons, curated resources, video, streamings, articles, and books. Students can also opt for a fully online/distance learning experience.

The MBA is configured as a “workshop” programme”, designed to empower the creative and analytical skills of the participatns and is designed and built to form “responsive professional figures” that will acquire an organic and up-to-date view of the activities of managers operating today; the disciplined contributions have been selected and revised in high usability perspective, as well as the awesome case history, in which the protagonists are going to tell successful professional stories that are rooting a period of severe economic crisis.

The MBA is composed of the following core modules, for a grand total of 60 ECTS that are attached to the workload of a full-time year of formal learning (from 1 500 to 1800 for an academic year).

– Operations Management;

– Leadership and Team-Building Skills;

– Financial Management;

– Strategic Management;

– Financial Reporting;

– Risk Management;

– Advanced Marketing;

– Innovation Management;

– Applied Statistics;

– Human Resource Management and Development;

– CSR;

– e-Commerce;

– Digital and Internet Economy;

– Multimedia Design for Business and Economics;

– Social Network Business;

– Web Content Economics;

– IT Skills;

– English Language.

Core topics are integrated by the following courses, delivered by staff from the Univerity for Peace Headquarters:

– Decision-making;

– Operating under Ambiguity:

– Understanding Worldviews;

– Risk-taking;

– Critical Thinking;

– Storytelling;

– Marketing;

– Strategy;

– Driving Innovation;

– Securing Buy-in;

– Management;

– Making change happen.

Upon completing the MBA, students will be granted the “alumni” status, gaining access to our global alumni network, and alumni groups on social networks.

Participants will be asked to sit an intermediate and a final test, in order to check on their progress.

Applications and enrolments are open throughout the year. The course is 1-year long.

In order to apply, students are requested to fill in the MBA application form.

Application forms can be requested to the reference persons listed at the end of this document.

Only applications sent via email will be considered.

Tuition fee is set at 19 000 USD.

Students can choose if attending the programme in blended format (in-presence + online/distance learning) of in a fully online experience (100% distance learning).

Excellent candidates will be considered for an internship period at the United Nations premises in Rome.

Students who successfully completed the MBA Programme will have to possibility to be enrolled directly at the second year of the PhD Programme, after passing an integration examination.

PhD Programmes

PhD in Economics Academic Supervisor: Prof. Valerio MALVEZZI

PhD in Political Science Academic Supervisor: Prof. Enea FRANZA

UNIPACE launches the first edition of its research-based PhD Programmes: PhD in Economics, and PhD in Political Science.

PhDs are three years long; the title will be awarded after the completion and defense of a doctoral final dissertation (thesis) presenting original research on a topic of interest, contibuting to the extension of knowledge in the chosen field.

The workload corresponds to 180 ECTS, ranging from 1 500 to 1 800 working hours per academic year.

Applicants are required to write their thesis in English.

The research-based setting helps students in giving them the possibility to study and pursue research independently, under the supervision of a thesis advisor assigned by the University. Students will be invited to join seasonal conferences and activities in Rome, and they will receive from the start of the Programme the necessary oonline resources to conduct their research from their location of preference. The final PhD disseration shows the significant contribution of the candidate to his research filed: thus, research topics will be developed and finley tuned on the basis of the PhD candidates’ professional and academic profile, as well as on their research project proposals.

Both PhD Programmes will have a focus on multi-disciplinary studies and research related to the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), with the goal of establishing a proper “knowledge hub” related to this international initiative. This research track seeks to attract students who are interested in those institutional changes, considered crucial in understanting this transformation, specifically in regard with the global impetus and multiple scales of politics and the economy.

Core modules will provided by the Departments of the University, in the macro areas of:

– Law;

– Economics;

– Environment and Land;

– Media and Social Sciences;

– Criminology;

– Health Sciences;

– Artificial Intelligence;

– Pedagogy and Educational Research;

– OBOR.

Applications and enrolments are open throughout the year. The course is 3-years long.

In order to apply, students are requested to fill in the PhD application form.

Application forms can be requested to the reference persons listed at the end of this document.

Only applications sent via email will be considered.

Tuition fee is set at 12 000 USD per academic year.

Students can choose if attending the programme in blended format (in-presence + online/distance learning) of in a fully online experience (100% distance learning).

Excellent candidates will be considered for an internship period at the United Nations premises in Rome.

Students who successfully completed the MBA Programme will have to possibility to be enrolled directly at the second year of the PhD Programme, after passing an integration examination.

Reference persons:

Vision & Global Trends:

Dr. Tiberio GRAZIANI – tiberio.graziani@vision-gt.eu

Liaison for International University for Peace, Rome:

Prof. Giuliano LUONGO – giuliano.luongo@unipaceroma.org