The Higher Education theme has been central to the development of the CCSE Center, from the very beginning. Many of the Centre's activities on this issue involved the University of Augsburg. The continuity of this relationship is one of the defining objectives of the Center.

The main research interests in the scope of Higher Education among others consists of investigating the governance mechanisms, the recruitment systems, the career advancement, and the main policies implemented in recent times with a comparative perspective.

In recent years, this research area has allowed the center to establish relationships with new potential partners. In particular, the construction of a strategic partnership with the Center for Higher Education of the University of California - Berkeley is being defined. The development of this relationship has slowed down due to the COVID emergency, which prevented a scheduled visiting activity, but which will in any case be developed over the three-year period.

Responsible of the research area: 

Stefano Paleari: President of the Center

Michele Meoli: Director of the Center

Alice Civera: Member of the Center

In her first speech about the Union’s conditions, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the goal of building a "European Health Union."
The CCSE intends to approach the study of health and medicine in a multidisciplinary key, involving international partners on issues such as health systems, the history of medical science and the ethical and bio-legal aspects of medicine.

The research activity aims to study the integration paths of national health policies and the creation of this union, made even more urgent by the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to framing the institutional and legal context in which EU health policies are placed, attention will be paid to the various tools that can contribute to the achievement of common objectives and actions. Consider, for example, specific programs such as “EU4Health 2021-2027 - a vision for a healthier European Union”. This research area is linked to the one concerning Social Transformation, placing the improvement of health at European level and a greater capacity to respond to health threats as necessary prerequisites for the social and economic stability of the countries of the Union and the Union itself.

As for the history of medical science, which can offer an overview of the history of epidemiological treatment and the discovery of vaccines and antibiotics, it also opens space research on human sciences in medicine (Medical Humanities) with the collaboration of SISUMed (Society of Human Sciences in Medicine), as well as some individual experts in the sector. The SISUMed (founded in 2019) has on the one hand the purpose of providing greater clarity on the epistemological foundations, purposes, methods, and tools to be used in the training of students in the field of Human Sciences, on the other hand to identify the criticalities of the training biomedical system, which is attributed to the phenomenon of depersonalization and reification of the patient and the 'commercialization' of the medical professions. This research lends itself to international collaborations with a strong transdisciplinary impact.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of men and women infected, and generated the largest economic recession since the war. The effects in terms of population impoverishment, loss of jobs, decline in industrial production, restrictions on individual freedom are comparable to those of a war. The Lombardy region, in particular the Bergamo area, has suffered from the resurgence of the pandemic and represents an interesting area of investigation to understand how individuals, families, and businesses have reacted to the crisis, studying the data generated by the behavior in response to the pandemic. In this context, the CCSE’s objective is to create interpretative and explanatory models of the effects of a 'quasi-war' on the available wealth of individuals, families and businesses. In this regard, a request for a Cariplo loan is being defined.