Università degli Studi di Siena
Institution profile
Website: www.unisi.it/internet/home_en.html
Over the last seven years the Faculty of Humanities at Università degli Studi di Siena has been ranked first (Humanities field) in the Censis-Repubblica survey for its research and teaching. Human Rights and Holocaust Studies feature prominently within its areas of excellence. The Faculty's Department of Communication studies, in which the European Joint Master of Human Rights and Genocide Studies will be located, has long been very active in research, teaching and in the organisation of academic and educational activities in the area of violence, mass killings and genocides in the Twentieth Century. In Spring 2000 it organized the international conference "History, Truth, Justice: the XXth Century and its Crimes". This was held in Siena with participants from nine different countries and about 15 universities and research centres. The Department has also been running educational projects and training with teachers and students on issues such as citizenship and immigration policy, racism and peace. In 2005 Siena received from the Monte dei Paschi dei Siena (a major Italian bank) a donation of 100.000 euros for further strengthening its educational activities and projects in the area of Human Rights. In 2002 the Master in Human Rights and Humanitarian intervention (which was later to merge into the European Joint Master of Human Rights and Genocide Studies) was established. This further strengthened Siena's recognition as one of the leading Italian universities in the field of Human Rights and has led to a further expansion of the university's links with other institutions (both higher education institutions and research centres) worldwide with a specialism in the area of Human Rights and Genocide studies. Over the past few years Siena has built a close research and teaching network with several European institutions and established a close relationship with Columbia, Yale (US), and a number of universities from Israel and South Africa, whose staff have been regular contributors to the teaching of Siena's modules in the area of human rights.