Master in Industrial and Employment Relations
Master in Industrial and Employment Relations
2 Octubre 2023–28 Septiembre 2024
El curso está disponible en English
The Master in Industrial and Employment Relations aims at developing specialized multidisciplinary knowledge in the field of industrial and employment relations from a comparative viewpoint. It provides participants with a deep theoretical and practical understanding of industrial and employment relations systems in the world, by looking into recent changes and trends in the major economic geographical areas.
Key features
Modern methods
Learn by doing, through case studies, workshops, and group exercises
Inspiring discussions
Exchange ideas with international students and faculty
High-level resources
Engage with experts from the ILO and the ITCILO, practitioners and university professors.
Presentación del Maestría
In a fast-changing environment (political, economic, social, cultural and technological) in which governments, workers' organizations and employers' and business membership organizations are continuously required to adapt their strategies, a better understanding of contemporary trends and challenges in industrial and employment relations is a compelling need. To provide labour relations practitioners with the best possible learning environment and the opportunity to engage in serious discussion relating to industrial and employment relations, the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO), in partnership with the University of Turin, Italy, is offering a Master in Industrial and Employment Relations. It includes a distance-learning phase with synchronous activities (weekly live webinars), and an optional residential phase of in-depth study on the ITCILO campus in Turin, followed by a second distance-learning phase for the preparation of the Master's thesis. The online learning journey allows students to engage continuously with a global faculty coming from a wide range of institutions, ranging from the ILO to universities and training and research institutions around the world. It is also an opportunity to share a learning experience with practitioners and students from all regions of the world. The Master in Industrial and Employment Relations aims to develop specialized, multidisciplinary knowledge in the field of industrial and employment relations from a comparative viewpoint. It will provide students with a deep theoretical and practical understanding of industrial and employment relations systems around the world by looking into recent changes and trends. The Master's programme combines the sound academic background of the University of Turin with the ITCILO's international training experience. An international approach has been applied to the content and methodology, as well as to the composition of the faculty.
¿Quiénes participan en este Master?
The Master in Industrial and Employment Relations is intended for participants with the following profiles: consultants and graduate students; government, workers' and employers' representatives; practitioners in the field of industrial and employment relations from the public and private sectors; human resources managers, personnel in human resources departments dealing with industrial and employment relations; labour court judges and lawyers; labour administration and labour inspection officials; staff of the ILO and other international organizations.
Objectives
General objective
The Master in Industrial and Employment Relations is designed to provide a wide spectrum of knowledge and skills for those with professional interests in industrial and employment relations. In addition, students will be exposed to international and comparative industrial and employment relations systems with a view to better understanding the implications for current industrial relations systems and practices.
Specific objectives
On successful completion of the Master’s programme, participants will be able to:
- Describe industrial and employment relations systems with a comparative approach;
- Critically reflect upon theoretical approaches and analyze their application to achieve effective industrial and employment relations strategies;
- Apply multi-disciplinary knowledge to industrial relations-related decision making;
- Apply tools and methodologies for effective labour-management relations at different levels of the economy from enterprise to the national and international level;
- Advise government, employers’ and workers’ representatives on industrial and employment relations issues.
Minimum entry requirements
- A first university degree (Bachelor’s degree) of minimum three years duration;
- Good working knowledge of spoken and written English;
- Ability to use computers and access to the internet.
Important: Learning acquired outside of formal education settings will not be recognized. The validity of non-Italian degrees must be recognized under Italian law and regulations.
Degree
A first level Master’s Degree from the University of Turin (60 certified university credits) will be awarded to the participants who fulfill all of the following conditions1 :
- The administrative requirements and documents requested by the University of Turin;
- Submit the assignments within the set deadlines and quality requirements;
- Submit the thesis within the set deadline and quality requirements;
- Pass the prescribed examinations demonstrating the level of competence required.
Structure and content
The Master’s Programme will be divided into two mandatory distance learning phases and one face-to-face component that is optional:
Phase 1
Distance-learning phase with live Webinars from 2 October 2023 to 20 April 2024 (29 weeks)
Students will have access to an e-platform through which they will learn online with live Webinars usually twice a week (6 hours/week in 2 days) and will have access to additional readings to study on an individual and collective basis. They will receive support from a tutor with expertise in the subject matter, participate in a forum, and exchange views with other students. Number of learning hours per week is minimum. 15 hours.
This phase is designed around 7 macro competence areas:
- Basics of industrial relations: Students will be introduced to the basics of industrial relations such as scope and definitions, actors involved and regimes of industrial relations. They will get exposed to the history of industrial relations and will better understand the actors of industrial relations. Students will acquire the necessary knowledge to use statistics and data around industrial relations and will develop an understanding of the role of industrial relations institutions in the labour market.
- The regulatory framework: Within this area of study students will be able to enrich their knowledge of the different regulations around industrial relations. Students will be fully exposed to the international labour standards system and will reflect upon the role of labour law in shaping employment and industrial relations. Private and social initiatives and their impact on development of industrial relations will be thoroughly explored.
- Forms of Industrial Relations: Collective bargaining, workplace cooperation, international framework agreements are, among others, different forms of industrial relations. Under this macro area, students will gain in-depth studies of the different modalities under which interactions between workers and employers’ organizations can take place at different levels.
- Labour dispute prevention and resolution: Students will get exposed to the principles underpinning dispute resolution and will look at labour conflict from different angles including psychological and organizational. Students will get an increased understanding of the role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and other dispute resolution methods including adjudication and arbitration.
- Application of economics for industrial relations practitioners: Understanding economics to discuss while negotiating a collective bargaining or to set a minimum wage is of a paramount importance. In this area of study students will be introduced to the rules of the labour market and its institutions and the relationship between economics and industrial relations.
- Variety of Industrial Relations: Industrial relations vary from countries to countries. During the programme students will “travel” around the globe to gain knowledge on the different types of industrial relations systems and their peculiarities, from developed economies, emerging economies and developing economies.
- Drivers of industrial and employment Relations: Students will study a variety of drivers of industrial and employment relations development, such as global supply chains, trade agreements and regional integration. Students will also be exposed to the impact of technological change on industrial and employment relations and many others.
This phase includes self-study, assignments, quizzes and exams.
A first level Master’s Degree, according to the Italian Qualifications Framework, is intended to provide students with further specialization or higher continuing education. The qualification awarded does not give access to a PhD under the Italian education system. Nevertheless, each country has its own education regulations and the participant is responsible to check the acceptance in its own Country or place where they want to apply for a continuity education.
Phase 2
Face-to-face phase (optional): Residential phase at the ITCILO campus in Turin, Italy, from 22 April to 10 May 2024 (3 weeks
During the optional face-to-face phase in Turin, students will be exposed to a more practical learning experience on a range of matters such as negotiation and collective bargaining skills. Classes are held from Tuesday to Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm.
A two/three-day study visit to the ILO Headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland) will be organized (depending on the COVID-19 situation in Switzerland and related travel restrictions). Others study visits may also take place depending on the restrictions in place.
Phase 3
Phase 3: Distance-learning phase for the drafting of the thesis from 20 April to 27 September 2024 (23 weeks
Students will be required to carry out individual research in their home country for the preparation and submission of a thesis. The outline of the thesis to be presented by 20 April 2023, and the thesis to be completed by 15 October 2023.
Methodology and resource persons
Methodology
Professors, practitioners and other resource persons will use lectures, case-studies, case law judgments, excerpts of collective agreements and legislation, discussions, group-work and practical exercises to strike a balance between theory and practice and to stimulate interaction with the resource persons and among students.
Resource persons
Resource persons are selected based on their professional experience and subject matter expertise. They consist of experts from the ILO and ITCILO, university professors and practitioners.
Fees and applications
Tuition fees: 9,000 Euros payable by the student or his/her sponsoring organization.
Tuition and accommodation fees for the face-to-face optional phase: to be determined.
Applications should be made through the online application form on this webpage: https://oarf2.itcilo.org/CST/A9716191/en
- Deadline to apply for the Master: 2 August 2023
- Deadline to apply for the face-to-face optional phase: 2 March 2024
Partial scholarships
A limited number of partial scholarships is available, on a competitive basis, for students from developing countries. If you wish to apply for a partial scholarship, please specify it on the application form.
The selection criteria for the award of partial scholarships will include academic and professional qualifications, organization, country of origin and gender balance.
Please note that apart from these partial scholarships, there is no other financial support provided by ITCILO including from ACTRAV and ACTEMP.
Payment, cancellation and refund policy
The ITCILO’s payment, cancellation and refund policy can be consulted on the following website: www.itcilo.org/turin-school-of-development/admission
Partner
University of Turin
The University of Turin is one of the most ancient and prestigious Italian Universities. Hosting over 74.000 students and with 120 buildings in different areas in Turin and in key places in Piedmont, the University of Turin can be considered as “city-within-a-city”, promoting culture and producing research, innovation, training and employment.
