The sociological concept of Social Cohesion, after a first stage in which it gained spread and notoriety within social sciences, has been abandoned in favor of other similar concepts, such as integration and solidarity. However, during the last twenty years, the concept has regained relevance mainly thanks to the intervention of several institutions, both national and international (OECD, EU, World Bank, Governments of some countries, such as England, France and Canada), that have reconsidered the concept of Social Cohesion, adapting it to their governance needs. The present work aims at proposing an effective and reliable theoretical and operational definition for the concept of Social Cohesion, starting from the contribution of those scholars (Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi 2009) that claimed the inadequacy of measuring the welfare of a country only through economic indicators. In other words, the aim of this contribution is to provide a concept of Social Cohesion that will take into account not only economic factors, but also other fundamental dimensions that define the Welfare of a country, such as active citizenship, trust, shared values and integration. The concept of Social Cohesion is defined with the aid of several databases (Eurostat, but also academic datasets) from which different socioeconomic indicators for the 27 EU Member States will be drawn. Data are analyzed through an explorative factor analysis approach, whose main result will be the creation of a Social Cohesion composite index. The Social Cohesion Index will rank the 27 EU Member States. Moreover, the research will consider a comparative analysis among different models of Social Cohesion observed in the European countries, with particular reference to the differences between the States of Southern Europe and those with different welfare systems, typical of Northern Europe.

Attempts to establish constitutional provisions for the Internet have been promoted since the late 1990s, mainly by the global civil society and intergovernmental organisations. More recently, a new wave of digital constitutionalism has emerged from the nation-state level, and particularly from national parliaments. In order to better understand this process, the article seeks to investigate, from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective, whether and to what extent parliamentary initiatives exhibit specific political features compared to constitutional attempts emerging from other kinds of sources. Further, the study aims to assess if drafting initiatives overlap or, rather, respond in different ways to different constitutional concerns.

Collaborative learning refers to methodologies and environments in which learners engage in a common task where each individual depends on and is accountable to each other. These include both face-to-face conversations, working group and online forums, chat, etc. The aim of this paper is to outline the main features of a project of collaborative learning in an international context: the Erasmus Intensive Programme Sono un Migrante to be implemented at the University of Salerno. Funded by the Italian Erasmus LLP Authority, the project involves the participation of students and teachers from 7 different universities of 6 EU countries.

The research examines the role of using ICT to raise students’ achievement in Italian technical and professional schools. The hypothesis developed in this research is that students who obtain better learning results are those students who use ICT more than those students who are low performers. Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) have been analyzed. The relationship between using ICT at school and students’ digital skills and attitudes has been analyzed by comparing the lowest performers and strong performers in reading literacy in Italian technical and professional schools. Results show that in Italian technical and professional schools, strong performers in reading literacy in PISA 2009 are more capable to do tasks at computer than low performers; however reading online and using ICT have greater positive effects towards achievement among low performers. Key words: ICT, PISA, professional school, reading literacy, technical school.

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