Education and Social Sciences

Education and Social Sciences at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano addresses the study of education and social sciences in an
interdisciplinary context, providing the necessary skills to face
research in the theoretical and empirical-experimental field and
promoting the development of innovative application practices.

Education and Social Sciences at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano responds to the growing need in international research to develop complex interpretations of socio-cultural and educational systems and to deepen conceptual, theoretical and methodological models. The study plan foresees different activities to ensure that PhD students acquire basic epistemological skills, methodological skills, both qualitative and quantitative, as well as transversal skills.

Key facts:

Students and professors from different countries, different disciplines and scientific fields guarantee the international and interdisciplinary orientation of the programme.

Over the three-year period, several teaching activities are offered: lectures, practical sessions and seminars that aim to develop and illustrate the programme’s subjects and research areas and to focus on the most recent findings in the education and in the social sector.

The main teaching areas are philosophy of science, epistemology of related disciplines, research methodology, currrent questions and methods drawn from the international context.

The cycles of compulsory and optional lectures, workshops and seminars (study plan) are defined by the PhD Course Committee at the beginning of the cycle.

• This is a full-time PhD programme and you can choose between two research areas: Education (which includes Pedagogical and  Didactics fields) and Social science. The research areas share modules on research epistemology and on qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Courses include:

• Philosophy of science

•  Epistemology of Education and Social sciences

•  Qualitative methodology

•  Quantitative methodology

•  Ethnographic research methods

•  English for Academic purposes

•  Information Literacy

•  Research Ethics

•  Coaching