Course program
The Sustainability and Social Reporting course will be divided into 36 two-hour lessons, held by the course holder and including interventions and testimonies from external experts, in presence or remotely and practical exercises, on the following topics:
a) the definitions, contents, institutional debate and EU and Italian legislation on CSR;
b) the historical development of CSR from CSR1 to CSR4 and the “Shared Value” paradigm of Porter and Kramer;
c) the problem of sustainability, international conferences and treaties, green, blue and circular economy;
d) external tools for CSR (standards, social labels, etc.);
e) internal tools for CSR (code of ethics, charter of values, etc.);
f) external PR activities (corporate giving, cause related marketing, social sponsorships and social marketing);
g) the social reporting process;
h) social reporting documents (social balance sheet, environmental balance sheet, sustainability balance sheet, mandate balance sheet, gender balance sheet, integrated balance sheet, impact balance sheet);
i) the most widespread guidelines for social reporting documents (GBS, GRI and related applications);
l) the particularities of social reporting in the public sector and in the third sector;
m) territorial social responsibility, smart cities and related European Union programs;
n) the NDRD - Non Financial Reporting Directive of the European Union and Legislative Decree no. 254/2016 implemented in Italy;
o) the CSRD – Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive of the European Union and Legislative Decree no. 125/2024 implemented in Italy;
p) the EFRAG ESRS guidelines for sustainability reporting;
q) the Taxonomy of EU "green" activities (Regulation no. 852/2020) and the EU Directives on "Due Diligence" and "Green Claims";
r) Benefit Companies, "B-Corporations" and other corporate methods of approaching the regenerative economy paradigm.
Prerequisites
None.
For an easier understanding of the course topics, is advised a basic proficiency in the following matters:
a) civil, commercial and European Union law;
b) general sociology and social research methodology;
c) business administration.
Books
1) S.Scarcella Prandstraller, Cillo Valentina (edited by), with contributions from Domitilla Magni, Rosa Palladino, Teresa Riso, Armando Papa, "Manuale di Responsabilità Sociale d'Impresa", Mc. Graw-Hill, 2022
2) S. Scarcella Prandstraller, (edited by), with contributions from Valentina Cillo, Domitilla Magni, Rosa Palladino, "Manuale di Rendicontazione Sociale", Mc. Graw-Hill, 2022
3) S. Scarcella Prandstraller (edited by), with contributions from Marco Romani, “Manuale di Reporting di Sostenibilità”, Mc. Graw-Hill, 2023.
Frequency
The number of lessons attended will be self-certified by each student through a verbal declaration made officially during the exam, under their own criminal responsibility in the case of false declarations. Anyone who has attended at least half of the lessons will be considered to be attending. The quality of attending has the effect of allowing the choice of the first exam topic.
Exam mode
In the exclusively oral exam, students will be questioned on an average of four topics from the lessons, slides and textbooks.
The following elements contribute to the formulation of the final judgment out of thirtieths:
1) active participation to the classroom-taught lessons;
2) participation to exercises;
3) knowledge of the matters of the course;
4) communication capability and emotional self-control;
5) presentation capability and linguistic expression;
6) contents assimilation and critical re-elaboration.
Grade from 18 to 23: requires a basic comprehension and knowledge of the course matters, with a minimal communicative and emotional control capacity.
Grade from 24 to 26: requires not just a discrete comprehension and knowledge of the course matters, but also a certain communicative and emotional control capacity.
Grade from 27 to 29: requires not just a good and complete comprehension and knowledge of the course matters, but also a good communicative and emotional control capacity.
Grade from 30 to 30 e lode: requires not just a total comprehension and deep and complete knowledge of the course matters, but also an excellent communicative and emotional control capacity, and a certain critical re-elaboration of contents capacity.
Lesson mode
The syllabus foresees the execution of:
a) classroom-taught lessons, with an high degree of interaction with students, in order to fulfill all the five five detailed formative objectives, with a particular emphasys on the one of knowledge and comprehension;
b) if useful or necessary, online lessons, through Zoom and Hangout Meet platforms, to achieve the same objectives, plus the capacity to use in safety a teaching channel at distance through telematic connection; there will be in any case provided interventions and testimonies of external experts in presence and at distance;
c) several practical exercises, in order to verify the integrate achievement of formative objectives nr.2, nr.3 and nr.4; all of them involve the acquisition of applicative capacities and of critical and judgement capacity:
1) Exercise - Reading, analysis and evaluation of social reporting documents (3 from companies at the forefront of sustainability issues are proposed);
2) Project Work - Drafting of a social reporting document for a real non-profit association, which will provide materials, documents and indications.
