Curriculum East Asia The main purpose of this curriculum is to prepare scholars of history of Far Eastern civilizations, taking the term history in its widest meaning and comprising its linguistic, literary, philosophical and religious, and art historical aspects. These scholars will reach a high level of autonomy in their researches, demonstrate capability of handling sources in original languages, and possess valid means of critical exposition. As regards literature, postgraduate students will be enabled to analyze classic or modern literary works in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, carrying out the textual and philological analysis of one or more works. An important formative goal is to enable the candidates to present their researches in international meetings and conferences, in order to confront their results with those of foreign scholars in Western and Asian countries, with the objective to introduce scientific novelties in their specific fields of study and research. Curriculum Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia The main goal is to train experts in the history and culture of that vast and multiform area the core of which is in the Indian subcontinent and that stretches, from a linguistical and cultural point of view, to Central Asia including the Tibet as well. Three different profiles, based on a shared background, are offered: a) Language & culture (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Sanskrit, ancient Iranian languages - together with their respective philosophical, religious and philological disciplines); b) History (Ancient history, Modern and Contemporary history); c) Archaeology & Art History. For all the three profile the knowledge of a modern language (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali) or of a classical one (Sanskrit, old Iranian languages) is requested. Among the modern European languages, fluency in English (written and spoken) is requested as well as the working knowledge of a second language (French or German). For those interested in research on Central Asia, the knowledge of the Russian language is necessary. A number of seminars on the culture, both ancient and modern, of the Indian subcontinent and on Central Asia are organized. A period of stay and research abroad, in qualified institution of research, is expected. Curriculum Islamic, Arabic and Iranian Studies This curriculum aims at forming highly qualified professionals in the field of Islamic studies, in their widest conception, i.e. open to traditional as well as contemporary questions. It points to continue in preparing research scholars and, at the same time, to form individuals equipped with philological and historical knowledge, and competent in confronting the changing Italian and Mediterranean conditions, with special regard to the immigration phenomenon. This massive phenomenon, in fact, makes absolutely impossible, especially in the actual international situation, any renounce or delay in the starting of an interaction-integration process, whose results will prove effective only if based on a real, deep and scientific knowledge of Islam and its history. On the other hand the curriculum purposes proceeding to be a disciplinary differentiation of what is meant as ‘Islamic’ studies, in order to produce researchers in social anthropology, art history, Islamic sciences, language and philology, besides institutional and political history. Its approach is multi-disciplinary: philological (knowledge of Arabic and other Islamic languages, such as Persian, Turkish, Urdu, etc.) and socio-anthropological (covering areas as South Asia, Central Asia, West Africa, and East Africa, besides traditional Islamic countries). In this way, its postgraduate students will be addressed towards a highly specialized academic or research career and also high profile professional careers, cultural mediation and international cooperation oriented, as required by the contemporary labour market.