Archaeological Materials Science

Sapienza's Quality Assurance (QA) System is described in detail on the Quality Team's web pages, available at https://www.uniroma1.it/it/pagina/team-qualita.

The web pages describe the ten-year process developed by the University to build Sapienza's Quality Assurance, the organizational model adopted, the QA stakeholders (Quality Team, Monitoring Committees, Joint Faculty-Student Committees, Degree Program Quality Committees), the active Working Groups, the main activities developed, and the documentation prepared for managing Quality Assurance processes and activities in Teaching, Research, and the Third Mission.

The Web Pages also serve as a communication platform and a platform for providing reference data for Review activities, drafting reports by the Joint Faculty-Student Commissions and Monitoring Committees, and compiling the SUA-Teaching and SUA-Research Reports.
Each Degree Program and each Department may apply the Sapienza Quality Assurance Model defined on the Quality Team Web Pages to its own Degree Program/Department Quality Assurance, adapting it to its own organizational needs while still complying with the models and procedures defined by ANVUR and the Quality Team.
The Degree Program/Department Web Pages, together with the SUA-Teaching and SUA-Research Reports, serve as communication tools for implementing the Quality Assurance System at the Degree Program/Department level.

The ARCHMAT Master's Degree is managed as follows: the University of EVORA coordinates the overall administrative and academic implementation of the Master's Degree, including student enrollment, the international call for applications, and the administration of EACEA scholarships. The Council also includes two representatives of the associated partners of the ARCHMAT project funded by the European Commission (both academic and non-academic) and a student representative. The Quality Assurance process for the ARCHMAT Master's Degree is designed to meet not only the requirements of the Bologna Process, but also European standards and guidelines (ESG), as well as the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes formulated by EQAR and ERASMUS MUNDUS Quality Assurance (EMQA). The process is based on internal and external quality assurance elements and is guided by the following key principles: cooperation, strategic planning and change, continuous improvement, implementation of recommendations, accountability, inclusiveness, publication of results, and transparency. Students are invited to participate in the ARCHMAT program's quality assurance councils and attend career guidance events, particularly with a view to the future careers of ARCHMAT graduates.
The ARCHMAT Master's Council, which includes faculty from the three partner universities, supports the coordinator in managing the program, meeting at least twice a year. Meetings may also be held online.
A first meeting is scheduled annually after all potential student applications have been received. A second meeting is held during the Summer School organized by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), at the end of the first year of study.
The Council oversees the program's quality assurance process, coordinates the curriculum updates based on recent research developments, and approves students' study programs, including internships at associated partner institutions during the final semester of thesis work. Decisions are made during meetings, video conferences, or via email or Skype consultations. Alumni are invited to participate in the ARCHMAT program's quality assurance councils and attend career guidance events, especially with a view to the future careers of ARCHMAT graduates.

The Master's Degree in Archaeological Materials Science (ARCHMAT) is directly linked to the EMJMD-ARCHMAT project, approved and funded by the EACEA Agency of the European Commission for four editions under the Erasmus+ EMJMD program (Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Degree; GA no. 2018-1468/001-001; https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-deta...), which specifically proposes the establishment of a joint Master's Degree in Archaeological Materials Science (ARCHMAT) between the University of Évora (UEVORA), the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), and Sapienza University of Rome (UNIROMA1).
To launch the EACEA-funded ARCHMAT project, the three partner universities consulted numerous scientific and professional organizations, representing the world of culture and production in the specific field of applied sciences for archaeological heritage. These organizations not only expressed their support, but in many cases became associated partners in the ARCHMAT project itself. These include Foundations (CIMEA [letter of 12.02.2018], Ormylia Foundation, Greece [letter of 13.02.2017] and Fondazione Flaminia [letter of 09.02.2018]), non-profit organizations (WATCH [letter of 13.02.2018]), local authorities (Lisbon Municipality [letter of 01.2.2018]), SMEs involved in the archaeometric sector (Archaeomed®- ARC [letter of 12.02.2018], GuoWenYan Conservation Science and IT Co. [letter of 11.02.2018]), research centers (ICMA/CSIS [letter of 13.02.2018]) and Museums (Museo de la Evolucion humana, Burgos [letter of 12.02.2018], Museum of Civilizations, Rome [letter dated 06.02.2017], The Israel Museum, Jerusalem [letter dated 13.02.2018]). For a detailed list of external partners involved in the ARCHMAT master's degree, see the EMJMD ARCHMAT project website (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-deta...).
As part of stakeholder consultations to assess the employability of ARCHMAT master's graduates, alumni of a previous European ARCHMAT project, which awarded a multiple-degree master's degree, were also contacted via email. These alumni are currently engaged in a wide range of activities [online survey dated February 8, 2018]:
- international doctorates (mainly in Europe and the USA, as well as the European Doctorate ED-ARCHMAT (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks) (http://www.ed-archmat-ejd.eu), recently awarded to a consortium of universities including Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Évora in Portugal (GA No. 766311 — ED-ARCHMAT — H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017);
- internships in prestigious museum centers for the conservation of cultural heritage (e.g., Getty Conservation Institute - Los Angeles, USA);
- Ministries and public administrations (e.g., the Eritrean Ministry of Culture);
- Public and private companies (e.g., the Cultural Heritage Conservation Center-CHCC, associated with the Chinese National Administration of Cultural Heritage, and Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics, Lithuania);
- Research centers (e.g., Petnica Research Center, Serbia).

On January 8, 2019, the final meeting of the University-wide consultation with organizations representing the production of goods and services and the professions was held. During this meeting, the opinions of the consulted organizations were gathered, as reported in the attached minutes. The University plans to meet with these organizations annually.

In July 2022, the ARCHMAT programme received new funding from the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) as an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master for a duration of 74 months, until November 2028 (Project: 101082567 ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PEX-EMJM -MOB). The project relies on the collaboration of a network of associated academic partners, including 8 EU higher education institutions (Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Università della Calabria, University of Burgos, University of Gent, Ben Gurion Negev University, University of Soochow, China, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Silpakorn University, Thailand), 4 museums (Museo de la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Museo delle Civiltá, Rome, Israel Museum Jerusalem, Archaeological Museum of Pella, Greece, University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, São Paulo, Brazil), 3 research laboratories (Centre for Archaeology, Lisbon; Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragón, Zaragoza; Idryma Ormylia, Greece), 3 SMEs (ERA Arqueólogia; Ars Mensurae s.r.l.; CONSERVISION Consulting Co. Ltd.), 1 national government institution (General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Lisbon), two NGOs (Flaminia Foundation, Ravenna; World Association for the Protection of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Times of Armed Conflict), and one ENIC-NARIC agency (Information Centre on Academic Mobility and Equivalence).

The ARCHMAT Master's Degree program includes an annual meeting of students and faculty with stakeholders during the ARCHMAT Summer School, held at the end of the first year of the program. In 2023, several leaders from small and medium-sized enterprises (e.g., Ars Mensurae), foundations (Flaminia Foundation, Ravenna), and NGOs (WATCH: World Association for the Protection of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Times of Armed Conflict) were invited to the Summer School. The 2024 Summer School invited representatives from archaeological superintendencies (Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of Greece), NGOs (Ormylia Art Diagnosis Centre, Greece), and museums (Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki). Furthermore, as a follow-up to the Summer School, in September 2024, ARCHMAT students met with an SME (Ars Mensurae) in Rome. The students actively participated in the meetings with stakeholders and expressed very positive feedback.
Link to the minutes: