TESI TN

_ Description

The Joint Master's Program TESI aims to develop and promote the culture, design, management, governance, and evaluation of a social innovation approach in the social policies of the Adriatic-Ionian region.

The project involves six universities and one research center from six Adrion countries (Italy, Croatia, Greece, Albania, Serbia, and Slovenia), with the support of the University of San Marino as an associated Partner.

The Joint Master's Program TESI intends to train the professional role of the "social innovator" expert capable of designing, implementing, promoting, and evaluating innovative tools and interventions to support public administrations, Third Sector organizations, and private sector actors in the Adriatic-Ionian area in their activities to respond to and combat contemporary social challenges.

This highly qualified expert must be capable of understanding and responding adequately to the needs of the area in which he/she operates, considering socio-economic, cultural, environmental, and institutional aspects.

The trained figure will be able to work within a multi-stakeholder territorial governance, with a managerial role, placing him/herself within public administrations, Third Sector organizations, and private enterprises, where he/she will plan innovative social interventions and realize synergies between the actors involved, responding to the needs of the community. Ultimately, they will be able to monitor and assess the social impact of the measures and strategies implemented.

The JM will enroll 25 participants from the Ipa Adrion countries. The Master will emphasize the importance of sharing knowledge and good practices in Social Innovation and will strengthen the principle of equal access to information and training.

Within the project activities, including the selection of candidates for the Master program, we will vigorously promote gender equality by adopting the 'gendered innovation' approach, as defined by the EC, which integrates a sex and gender perspective in knowledge generation and develops specific tools.

Students in TESI will acquire both theoretical and practical knowledge. The JM will include an internship abroad in one of the partner Universities and a "project work" applicable:

1. To develop social innovation management strategies in real-life working.
2. To research a specific case study in one of the developing areas studied during the teaching modules.

The Joint Master focuses on five macro-issue-specific topics:

• Migration and social Innovation.
• Social Innovations and Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups.
• Corporate Social Responsibility and social economy as social Innovation.
• Urban regeneration as social Innovation.
• Education and Youth empowerment.

And on five macro methodological topics:

• Social Innovation Theory.
• Project Design, Management, and Capacity Building for Social Innovation.
• Theory of Societal Transformation.
• Data Analysis and Participatory Design for Social Innovation.
• Community design and impact evaluation for social Innovation.

_ Outcomes

The basic outcomes of the project will be:

• To form the professional figure of the social innovator.
• To develop an education process/program for 25 social innovation managers.
• To strengthen and extend the inter-university network for social innovation training and education.
• To improve and diffuse the social innovation stakeholder network.
• To create a sustainability plan for a new edition of the self-financed TESI master's degree.
• To disseminate new training models on social Innovation and related challenges in the IPA ADRION area.

The project's partners will be involved in the process at every specific phase of the project.

1. Initial phase. Public presentation of the Master in each partner's country to communicate the significance of the project.
2. Central phase. Development, organization, and delivery of the Master.
3. Final phase. Evaluation of the Master and elaboration of a new sustainable project to develop in the following years.

TESI partners with several businesses and consortia in the project, with which agreements have been established for hosting students.

During the two-year project period, various monitoring and evaluation activities will be conducted to assess and understand the project's strengths and weaknesses. All stakeholders, including teachers, students, and the scientific board, will be involved in the evaluation process.

It will promote a continuous comparison with the network of stakeholders to identify the elements of sustainability functional to replicate the Master in the future with an eye to the needs of the social context and the academic offer, having as a horizon the IPA Adrion countries.