University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow, established in 1451, has been engaged in the study and teaching of politics since the 1760s, when Adam Smith, a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University gave a series of lectures on justice, police, revenue and arms. Politics has been studied and taught at UofG ever since, with an especially dedicated Department of Politics being established in 1960. Over the past decade, South European politics has developed into a major research and teaching strength in the subject area with more than six members of full time staff having relevant expertise. The strength of South European studies at the UofG is unmatched by any other institution in the UK.
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), founded in 1837 was the first university to be established in the entire Balkan Peninsula and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is Greece’s first, historic and most distinguished university with more than 3,000 staff and 40,000 students. Since the foundation of NKUA most PMs, Presidents of the Republic of Greece as well as several Ministers and Supreme Court Judges have been its students and/or Professors. The Faculty of Economics and Political Science at NKUA holds significant expertise in South European studies; it is home to four academic departments (Political Science and Public Administration, Economics, Media and Communication, Turkish and Modern Asian Studies) as well as the core area studies journal dedicated to the study of the region, South European Society and Politics (SESP).
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
The Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), founded in 1968, is eleventh in the QS World Ranking of the ‘Top 50 under 50’ (years old). UAM has more than 25,000 students and 3,000 academic staff members; UAM’s Faculty of Law is the most prestigious in Spain and boasts alumni such as King Felipe VI of Spain and former professors such as Francisco Tomás y Valiente, former President of Spain’s Constitutional Court. Law and politics, particularly political sociology are principal areas of specialisation within the Faculty of Law. UAM also holds unique expertise in Arab and Islamic studies, being home to a dedicated department which resides in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters as well as to the only master degree in Spain on Arab and Islamic studies.
Luiss Guido Carli
The Libera Università Internazionale per le Scienze Sociali (LUISS) Guido Carli has its origins in an earlier Roman institution: Pro Deo University, founded in 1966. Since 1974 important public and private industrial groups and financial firms came together to found LUISS as an innovative private higher education institution initially aimed at executives with a curriculum that is in line with the needs of the marketplace and closely linked to the business world. LUISS evolved into a thriving HEI for the social sciences. Both the Department of Political Sciences and the School of Government have a traditional focus on Europe both in research and teaching. They both put emphasis on the history and institutions of Europe and the Mediterranean.
Aix Marseille Université
Aix Marseille Université (AMU) dates back to 1406 when the ancient university of Aix-en-Provence was first established. The current AMU is the largest multidisciplinary French-speaking university, Aix-Marseille University (AMU) welcomes 80,000 students and nearly 8,000 staff on 5 large campuses of international standards. Owning 90% of its assets, the university is present in 9 cities in 4 departments of the Southern Region.
Its A*Midex University Foundation, which carries the IDEX on a long-term basis, contributes to the development of a world-class interdisciplinary higher education and research centre. AMU is an intensive research university, which has forged partnerships all over the world, which has affirmed its territorial anchorage and integration and which ranks among the very first French universities in the Shanghai ranking. AMU is a multidisciplinary university structured around five disciplinary sectors divided into 18 components (faculties, schools, institutes): Arts, Letters, Languages and Human Sciences; Law and Political Science; Economics and Management; Health; Science and Technology.
Instituto de Ciências Sociais
The Instituto de Ciências Sociais of the Universidade de Lisboa (ICS) is the Research Institute for the Social Sciences par excellence in Portugal. Its history dates back to 1962 when a group of pioneering sociologists initiated research collaboration, what was to become the most important social sciences library in the country and its first social science journal, Análise Social, to this day edited at ICS. Since 1982 ICS has enjoyed autonomous status within the University of Lisbon, its focus being on innovative research, doctoral training and outreach activities. Its mission is to study contemporary societies and cultures, with a special emphasis on Portugal and the countries that Portugal has had historical ties with, in Southern Europe and in the rest of the world. It is home to 123 full time researchers and 335 doctoral students spanning the full range of the social aciences (anthropology, sociology, political science, political psychology, economics, human geography and history). Methodological sophistication, innovation and pluralism is one of the ICS’s major strengths. Advanced training for doctoral students is offered across a very wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods in the Social Sciences broadly conceived.