University of Milan

Master’s Degree in Management of Human Resources and Labour Studies

The Msc in Management of Human Resources and Labour Studies (MLS) is an inspiring and challenging two-year programme that complements a business and management orientation with rigorous, interdisciplinary social science training, all from a comparative perspective.The distinctive nature of the programme lies in its comparative approach, strong orientation toward analytics, and the adoption of a learning-by-doing teaching approach which is enriched by laboratories, guest speakers, and events. The programme furnishes access to a network of practitioners, companies, and institutions to enlarge the breadth of learning by the students.

The course encourages students to extend their learning at the international level by joining the European Master in Labour Studies, and it provides opportunities for internships and Erasmus exchange programs

The programme offers two curricula entirely taught in English and which represent two interconnected aspects of the area of Management of Human Resources and Labour Studies:

• The Human Resource Management and Employment Relations curriculum prepares students for a career in human resource management at the global level, with specific attention to a multidisciplinary set of competencies covering diverse topics like labour law, labour economics, industrial relations, organizational behaviour, as well as the different HR practices.

The Comparative Social Policy and Employment Relations curriculum prepares students for careers as social and labour policy analysts, project officers or policymakers, in the private and public sector, in applied research, social research institutions, public administrations, European and international institutions, NGOs. Its graduates are qualified to start an academic career at international academic institutions in the social science field.

Admission requirements

Eligible candidates must meet the following requirements:

a) Applicants who have completed their undergraduate studies at foreign universities are eligible for admission if they hold a bachelor’s degree in economics, political science, or other broadly related subjects (from history to industrial engineering, from management to mathematics, from philosophy to sociology, and so on),

b) All candidates holding a different bachelor’s degree must have earned at least 9 ECTS credits or equivalent in sociology and/ or political sciences; at least 9 ECTS in economics and/ or mathematics/ statistics; and at least 9 ECTS in law or be admitted with the requirement to fulfil the above mentioned requisites. The ECTS credit value of foreign applicants’ undergraduate studies will be assessed by the MLS admissions committee. Applicants who have completed their undergraduate studies at foreign universities should exhibit a comparable academic record or competence in logic, statistics and mathematics.

c) Non-native speakers of English must be able to demonstrate their knowledge of English either by showing they have at least one year of university studies at institutions where the language of instruction is English, or by possessing one of the following:

– Cambridge CAE – Certificate in Advanced English: grade A or B;
– Cambridge CPE – Certificate of Proficiency in English: grade A, or B, or C;
– Cambridge IELTS: overall score of at least 6;
– TOEFL paper-based, computer-based or internet-based: overall score of at least 550, 215 or 80, respectively.

d) All candidates shall complete an online test to ascertain their knowledge. The test is composed of multiple choice questions. Candidates can prepare on the following textbooks:

• Labour Economics
• George Borjas, Labor economics, McGraw Hill 2012
• Labour Law
• S. Bronstein (2009), International and comparative labour law: current challenges, Palgrave Macmillan
• Sociology of Work
• Swedberg (2003), Principles of Economic Sociology, Princeton UP
• Trigilia (2002), Economic sociology: State, Market and Society in Modern Capitalism, Wiley.
• Social and Work Policies
• Francis G. Castles, Stephan Leibfried, Jane Lewis, Herbert Obinger, and Christopher Pierson (Eds.) (2010), The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, Oxford University Press, in particular parts V (Policies) and VII (Worlds of Welfare)
• Hemerijck (2012), Changing Welfare States, Oxford University Press.

e) Applicants shall:

• send a letter where they explain their motivation for joining the programme, and
• attach (at least) one recommendation letter, which describes past academic or professional accomplishments, identifies strengths and weaknesses, evaluates the candidate in terms of academic (or professional) performance, commitment, and teamwork.

f) Applicants shall take an online interview through Skype

Admissions will be continuous during the Admission window (Feb 4th – Sep 10th). Final decisions will be communicated with the following calendar:

1 Max 10 candidates admitted within Apr 30th
2 Max 10 candidates admitted within May 31st
3 Max 20 candidates admitted within Jun 30th
4 Max 15 candidates admitted Sep 15th

Admitted candidates will have one month to formally enrol. Failure to do so will result in the candidate being excluded and the next available candidate being notified of admission.


About the Department of Social and Political Sciences

The Department of Social and Political Sciences (SPS) has been ranked first among the large departments of social sciences in the 2004-2010 research assessment. SPS conducts and coordinates research and teaching programmes in the fields of social and political theory, public policy analysis, the politics of work and welfare, and the study of culture and of social relations.

Background

The Department was established in April 2012 when it merged the Department of Social and Political Studies and the Department of Labour and Welfare Studies. The widely acknowledged multidisciplinary nature of the original departments was thus reinforced, drawing together sociologists, political scientists, legal scholars, economists and anthropologists who apply their skills to developing collaborative, multidisciplinary research and teaching programs across a large range of issues of contemporary and scholarly importance.

Mission

The Department believes that the social sciences in their plurality are pivotal to understanding contemporary political and social systems and processes of change. For this purpose, it promotes multidisciplinary research and innovative and integrated tertiary educational programmes. As with the best European and international research and models of higher education, it seeks to pool, exchange, challenge and develop the knowledge and expertise of scholars and students of the social sciences.

Objectives

The Department of Social and Political Sciences offers students and junior and senior researchers a physical space, an intellectual environment and training programmes through which they can tackle new and challenging ideas and conduct research into their chosen fields of scientific interest. At the heart of this formation is the Department’s characteristic interdisciplinary approach.

The Department:

• offers 5 BA programmes (in two cases in association with other departments) and 4 MA programmes, and participates in the teaching activities of several other programmes in the Faculty of Political, Economic and Social Sciences and in the School of Linguistic and Cultural mediation sciences;

• facilitates and supports participation in international, national and local research programmes and fora, and participation in all aspects and stages of the research process, including collaboration with public institutions and private bodies;

• promotes the creation of stable national and transnational research networks and organizations so as to bring together both leading and emerging scholars from a range of scientific communities;

• organizes scientific seminars, conferences and summer/winter schools, also in collaboration with parallel national and international scientific bodies;

• manages, updates and disseminates bibliographies of the latest research through its own Documentation Centre;

• manages and develops an IT laboratory which supports research and teaching activities within the department;

• promotes the establishment and activities of research centres and laboratories, also in cooperation with other departments and universities;

• facilitates the circulation and public discussion of research results, including through the publication of its own various working paper series, the organization of public seminars, and high profile media interventions;

• coordinates and conducts research and consultancy activities regulated by contracts and agreements with a variety of public and private institutions in accordance with national laws and the University’s statutes and regulations.

The Department upholds the principle and process of peer review for each and every research activity undertaken at the University and beyond, and further acknowledges peer review as central to academic integrity and independence.

The Department adheres to the principles set forth in the University Code of Ethics and formally commits to respecting the principle of equal opportunity for all.


About the University of Milan

The University of Milan is a public teaching and research university, which - with 8 faculties and 2 schools and a teaching staff of more than 2000 professors - is distinguished by its wide variety of disciplinary fields.

A leading institute in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity, the University of Milan is the largest university in the region, with approximately 64,000 students; it is also an important resource for the socio-economic context of which it is a part.

Milan is, in fact, the capital of Lombardy, one of the most dynamic and international regions in the European Union, a leader in the national economy that stands at the Italian forefront of research and development investments and commitment to technological innovation.

The University of Milan also possesses a remarkable artistic and cultural heritage that includes important historic buildings, inherited and acquired collections, archives, botanical gardens and the old Brera Observatory commissioned by Maria Teresa of Austria.

The University’s departments are housed in important historic edifices in the centre of Milan and in modern buildings in the area known as Cittā Studi (the City of Studies).

Among the palazzos that house the University’s facilities are the old Ca' Granda (the big house) – a monumental complex from the 15th-century in the heart of the historical city centre - the 18th-century Palazzo Greppi designed by Giuseppe Piermarini – who built the Scala Theatre in Milan – and the 17th-century Sant’Alessandro College commissioned by the Arcimboldi family.

The book collection, which is one of the richest in the region, is preserved in 47 libraries, while the APICE Centre collects rare and valuable book stocks and archives.

The University also has a Choir and its own Orchestra, which actively contributes to the cultural life of the city and receives international acknowledgements on an increasingly frequent basis.