Programme Structure & Credits

The students need to complete 120 course credits, which is equivalent to 10 disciplines. They will also be required to write a Masters thesis (45 credits) and complete an internship. In the first semester they should complete the following four compulsory courses:

1) Macroeconomics, Development and Job Creation;

2) Strategies of Multinational Corporations and Labour;

3) Quantitative Methods, Research and Thesis Writing;

4) Thesis Project’s Elaboration.

These disciplines will run from March 2008 to June 2008. Two other support language disciplines are optional: Basic Portuguese and Advanced English. These will run from January 2008 to June 2008.

Other special seminars offered during the first semester in 2008 are: One World Seminar; Amazonian Environmental Issues; Health and Safety at Work; Social Vulnerability and Decent Work.

Students who complete two relevant disciplines in a related Masters programme - either before or after their stay in Brazil - will have these credits recognised by the State University of Campinas, provided they are from a recognised university. Students must complete eight disciplines in Brazil.

In July 2008 students will be offered a four weeks internship in a trade union, a labour confederation, a research institute or another institution related to their studies in Brazil. These activities will be considered as the 5th discipline (12 credits).

In the second semester students should complete five more courses:

6) Economic Development, Labour and Trade Unions - emphasizing developing countries and Latin America;

7) Social Structures, Inequality and Poverty;

8) Trade Union Strategies in a Global Economy, International Economy, Global Management and Trade Unionism.

Please note: These three disciplines run from August 2008 to November 2008 while the two mentioned below run from January to February 2009.

9) International Labour Standards, Rights, Policies and Solidary Economy;

10) Thesis Writing: presentation of at least one chapter of the final dissertation.

See below the structure of the course.

The final Masters thesis must be written and filed by the end of 2009. Possible topics for dissertations related to labour issues should be discussed and defined with the supervisors at the beginning of the programme. If students prefer to write their thesis in another country they could choose a foreign professor as his/her second supervisor. However the final examination should be at Unicamp. The presence of Brazilian professors in Germany and South Africa could help the supervision of students enrolled in these countries if they decided to spend one semester at Unicamp and/or to write their Masters thesis about Brazil or Latin America.