USI and SUPSI present the joint Master of Advanced Studies in Business Law 

ed69a04d4a3238678b852a53ca4352aa.jpg

Institutional Communication Service

16 August 2022

The second edition of the Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Business Law, starting on 9 September, will confer a joint USI-SUPSI degree. 

Università della Svizzera italiana, through the Law Institute (IDUSI), has already been collaborating for some time with various SUPSI continuing education initiatives in the legal area. With the new agreement signed with SUPSI's Centro competenze tributarie (CCT), which organised the first edition of the MAS, the two institutions now intend to strengthen their collaboration and further develop the MAS in Business Law to achieve a high academic quality training standard. Those who enrol in the MAS or individually in its three independent one-year courses (Certificate of Advanced Studies, CAS) will then be able to obtain the title of USI-SUPSI MAS in Business Law, respectively USI-SUPSI CAS. 

Under the new structure, the MAS in Business Law will be directed by Professor Samuele Vorpe, head of CCT, and Professor Federica De Rossa, director of IDUSI. 

The MAS in Business Law aims to strengthen and professionalise the figure of the business lawyer as an external or internal consultant to a company. It aims to provide the legal knowledge and skills of cantonal, federal and international law that are related to the corporate world (e.g., labour, commercial, inheritance, executive, tax and economic criminal law), as well as the financial skills necessary for the business lawyer, such as valuing a company or reading a business plan. 

The MAS is mainly aimed at lawyers with Swiss or foreign university training, economists, business economists, trustees, accountants or entrepreneurs who need to acquire specific business law knowledge. The educational offering is divided into three one-year courses: Legal Foundations of Business, Legal Insights of Business, and Business Planning and Risk. Each annual course qualifies for the USI-SUPSI Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS); a master's thesis is also required to obtain the USI-SUPSI Master of Advanced Studies degree.

"The new collaboration makes it possible to improve the quality and structure of the MAS in Business Law, considering that both CCT and IDUSI deal with legal subjects daily in teaching and scientific research. Thus, this is a natural, though not expected, development in the field of education, and this synergy will benefit everyone, especially the MAS students. The double USI-SUPSI degree then constitutes a significant mark of quality for those who earn it, with positive implications on the job market as well," explains Professor Samuele Vorpe.

"For IDUSI, this is an important collaboration, complementary to the refresher programme offered in synergy with the University of Lucerne and other timely initiatives. It answers the need to create synergies with the multiple actors that today offer continuing education for jurists in Ticino, avoiding fragmentation of the offer and rather working to strengthen the scientific quality of the existing one," stated Professor Federica De Rossa. "The topics of the MAS in Business Law fall within IDUSI's teaching and research areas, which touch on public, criminal and private business law while also integrating analysis of the dynamics of the gradual transposition into law of best practices of corporate governance and concerns typical of Corporate Social Responsibility. Therefore, we believe this initiative can also respond to the request of many USI graduates to benefit from a continuing education offer in business law."

Registration for the second edition of the USI-SUPSI Master of Advanced Studies in Business Law closes on 31 August 2022. More information is available at the Master's website.