Foreign Languages, Cultures, Tourism - (Double degree) - academic year 23/24

The Master's degree course in Languages, Cultures and Tourism (Code LM-37&LM-49) is open access (with no capped number restriction).

The course lasts two years (full-time) or 3 or 4 years with a part-time option.

To obtain the degree you must obtain 120 ECTS academic credits.

You can choose to pursue a binational degree in partnership with Université de Savoie Mont Blanc.

Contact (Chair) of Languages, Cultures and Tourism: Elisabetta Lonati - presidenza.lct@uniupo.it

The degree programme brings together two training tracks on a single interdisciplinary project, which mutually enhance each other thanks to interaction between different scientific-disciplinary areas. The LM37 track is enriched with insights into the artistic, cultural, historical and sociological areas; in turn, the LM49 track combines the disciplines aimed at training functional skills for insertion into the local and global tourism market with solid specific training in the field of linguistic and artistic-historical-cultural knowledge, essential for operating in the international context of reception and management of tourist flows. The interclass nature of the course therefore represents a flexible tool from a training point of view, which allows teaching to be oriented towards the development of professional figures who share an advanced level of linguistic competence (both in the production and decoding of oral and written texts) and a mature ability to use critical tools useful for understanding the cultural and social dynamics linked to linguistic mediation and tourism management.

The programme thus satisfies the training demand of managers, supervisors and operators of tourist holidays and services, without compromising on the functional requirements for development of advanced skills in the linguistic, literary and artistic-historical-cultural areas that are necessary for the training of teachers and professionals of culture, publishing, communication, and translation into and from European and American languages and cultures. Graduates of the course will therefore develop communication skills combined with specific disciplinary skills, representative of both the cultural and educational project shared by the two degree classes, and the areas specific to each of them.

In the field of foreign languages, literatures and cultures, the course offers graduates a series of theoretical-scientific knowledge and skills, in a comparative, fundamentally European and American, perspective. From this perspective, graduates will be able to personalise their pathway by modulating their training along three fundamental axes:

• Strengthening synchronic and diachronic knowledge of the culture, literature, history, arts and thought of the cultural and political-geographical areas in which the chosen languages are spoken, integrating the knowledge of literature with that of philology, stylistics, of anthropology, human sciences, visual, musical and performing arts, in the light of modern critical methodologies. In this context they will develop an intercultural awareness based on mastery of methodological tools for linguistic and literary analysis, and for the teaching of foreign languages, literatures and cultures
• deepening, in the choices that can be made between related disciplines, their knowledge in the economic-legal field linked to international and business communication and relating to the social dynamics of human relations in the commercial and professional field.

In relation to the area of tourism management, the course aims to train specialists in the planning and implementation of activities aimed at development of territorial tourism systems; furthermore, it aims to provide high managerial as well as linguistic-cultural skills, to build high-profile professional figures who are capable of defining business strategies, analysing market demand (both national and international), and planning the tourism offer based on territorial characteristics

The course is also aimed at contributing to the formation of skills and coordination skills for planning and management of large cultural events and displays, and for the creation of itineraries and activities aimed at the enjoyment of cultural heritage, also through the establishment of public-private partnerships. Graduates will also be able to take on decision-making roles in the management of tourism-hotel businesses, as well as assume management roles in communication, advertising and public relations activities, including at an international level.

Furthermore, due to the structure of the programme, which includes not only the linguistic skills essential in this field but also artistic-historical-cultural competences, the graduate will be able to implement intersectoral and infrastructural interventions necessary for redevelopment of the tourism offer with the design of innovative tourist products and in line with the planning of public administrations and local authorities. Also, they will learn how to develop suitable communication strategies for the knowledge of local cultural heritage, as well as effectively coordinate territorial resources for the promotion of initiatives in the field of culture and tourism.

The training activities include lectures, seminar activities, language practice, training projects developed in collaboration with public/private bodies and institutions, and internships. All activities aim to promote the ability to interpret linguistic and cultural codes, to critically and autonomously process information and to effectively communicate the work carried out and its results. The general approach of the course of study involves appropriate time dedicated to individual study, both guided and independent. Finally, attention is paid to strengthening organisational skills that are increasingly important in the professional field, such as autonomous project management and team work.

The first and only interdisciplinary Master's degree course in Italy that combines two courses: master's degree in Modern European and American Languages and Literatures (LM37) and master's degree in Planning and Management of Tourism Systems (LM49).

On the one hand, we build in-depth knowledge in different literary fields, according to historical and critical perspectives capable of leading to comparative studies; on the other hand, we develop skills and competences in linguistic-cultural intermediation, integrated with economic-social knowledge in the public and private sector.

Furthermore, we propose the development and strengthening of management skills in the tourism sector with disciplines aimed at training critical skills on the functioning and planning of tourism systems and the local and global tourism market, in a 'glocal' perspective which combines on the one hand international, multilingual and multicultural openness and, on the other, in-depth attention to the territory and its economic, geographical, social, political and cultural characteristics and dynamics.

The course provides transversal interdisciplinary education characterised by advanced skills in the linguistic, literary, cultural, historical, artistic and territorial areas, in a rich disciplinary panorama which is completed with the economic-social areas and territorial sciences.

The binational degree training path with the Université Savoie Mont Blanc allows students enrolled in LM37 to spend the first year of the course at the Chambéry campus and obtain a dual degree.