Networks and certifications

La “Vasco da Gama” Chair” is a UNINT hub linked to “Camões, Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua”, the body of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for the diffusion of the Portuguese language and culture at an international level. Created in January 2020, "Vasco da Gama" is part of the circuit of the Chairs ofCamões Institute located in various countries around the world (United States, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, Switzerland, India, Ukraine, Poland, Canada and many others, in addition to the official Portuguese speaking countries) and among the 13 Chairs Camões currently active in Italy.

The Chair follows lines of research that include Portuguese language, linguistics, cultures and literatures; in more detail: literature and history of navigation; Italians in Portugal and Portuguese in Italy – archival works and diaspora studies; interpreting and translation; lexicography; Portuguese as a foreign language, second language or “heritage language”; Portuguese language and linguistics; Portuguese literature of all eras.

From a teaching point of view, the Chair promotes the teaching of Portuguese-speaking languages ​​and cultures and specializes in the training of translators and interpreters between Portuguese-Italian-Portuguese and Portuguese-English-Portuguese, with interpretation and translation experts. Given the peculiarity of the University, at the forefront of innovative teaching, some resources are dedicated to teaching the Portuguese language for the territory (Third Mission) and for secondary education institutions, favoring those located in the areas surrounding the University.

The President of the “Vasco da Gama” Chair is Mariagrazia Russo, Full Professor of Language and Linguistics and Portuguese Language and Translation at UNINT and Rector. The reference teacher is Maria Serena Felici, contract teacher of Portuguese at UNINT. Furthermore, all the other Portuguese teachers on staff at UNINT belong to it: Federico Giannattasio, Gislaine Simone Silva Marins, Filipa Andreia Martins Matos, Lucia Melotti, Daniele Petruccioli, Cecília Santanchè and Valentina Vettorazzo.

Vasco da Gama

The choice to assign the chair to Vasco da Gama (1469-1424) is due, first of all, to the international vocation that the chair has, in promoting the mobility of students and teachers with universities and institutions located in Portugal and in CPLP countries . Thanks to the Erasmus project and the numerous international agreements promoted, the teaching and research carried out by the president are constantly enriched by collaboration with European and non-European Portuguese-speaking institutions. The title of the Portuguese navigator is also linked to the scientific production carried out by the Chair, which mainly aims to deepen the importance given to the history of travels in the Portuguese-speaking world, to odeporic literature, to the cultures that arise in the context of expansion. The president will be responsible for spreading the Portuguese language at school level (taking into account the fact that the character of Vasco da Gama is one of the few historical figures known to young Italians) by creating educational material, programs and specific initiatives.

Organization

President: Mariagrazia Russo, Full Professor of Language and Linguistics and Portuguese Language and Translation at UNINT and UNINT Rector 
The reference teacher is Maria Serena Felici, PhD in Portuguese Studies. 
Furthermore, all the Portuguese teachers on staff at UNINT belong to it.

Agreement with the Chair of Global Studies at the University of Aberta – UNINT

On 17 May 2021, the University of International Studies of Rome - UNINT signed a cooperation agreement with the Chair of Global Studies of the Universidade Aberta of Lisbon / CIPSH (International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies) / UNESCO. Universidade Aberta is currently one of the Portuguese public universities most dedicated to leading the processes of change in the field of higher education and science in high-tech Portugal. The Chair of Global Studies has as its fundamental objective the understanding of the contemporary world and is the fulcrum of a network open to other universities, research centers and complementary institutions. The Chair also promotes the work of eminent professors and researchers from all over the world in the social and human sciences, without excluding other scientific fields such as environmental sciences, whose aim is to address globalization in a more humane way and contribute to sustainable development. more sustainable in cultural, social and economic terms. Among the main values ​​supported by the Chair we find a strong commitment to respect for human rights, the freedom of peoples and the fight against imbalances, inequalities and violence, analyzed from an inter- and transdisciplinary point of view.

This agreement, which will be automatically renewed every year, was signed by Mariagrazia Russo (rector – UNINT), João Luís Cardoso (vice-rector for Research, Knowledge Transfer and Scientific Dissemination of the Universidade Aberta) and José Eduardo Franco (director of the Chair of Global Studies and coordinator of the doctoral program in Global Studies) and is aimed at promoting joint projects of institutional cooperation for research and teaching and the creation of scientific and pedagogical events in collaboration between the two universities.