Master’s Programme “Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism”

Master’s Programme “Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism”

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The Interuniversity Program of Postgraduate Studies (I.P.P.S.) "Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism" focuses on religious and pilgrimage tourism as a religious and cultural good and aspires to respond to the public's theological and spiritual interest combined with its cultural and religious interest in visiting religious places.

Programme director: Kyriakoula Papademetriou
M: msc-religioustourism@past.auth.gr
W: https://msc-religioustourism.web.auth.gr/

Website of the Master’s Programme

The following Schools and Institutions participate:

School of Social Theology and Christian Culture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (the applicant)
School of Business Administration, Marketing and Tourism (Thessaloniki) of the International Hellenic University
The Interuniversity Program of Postgraduate Studies (I.P.P.S.) “Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism” focuses on religious and pilgrimage tourism as a religious and cultural good and aspires to respond to the public’s theological and spiritual interest combined with its cultural and religious interest in visiting religious places.
  • The program covers the need for responsible and valid training from the appropriate university bodies: the School of Social Theology and Christian Culture and the School of Business Administration, Marketing and Tourism. The first School covers mainly the theoretical needs of the program, while the second covers mainly the practical ones, responding in the most appropriate way to its interdisciplinary nature.
  • The program aims at training graduates of Theological Faculties and Ecclesiastical Academies, as well as other related training (such as priests, church ministers, etc.), who address to an audience with religious-cultural and theological interests. It also aims at training graduates of Schools related to Tourism, to whom it offers reliable and valid knowledge about the special form of religious and pilgrimage tourism.
  • The program follows the international scientific and technological developments regarding its subject and equips its students with modern specialized knowledge, taking into account the requirements of the labor market in Greece and internationally. At the same time, it promotes scientific knowledge and research and contributes to the extroversion and diffusion of its results in society.

The study program is structured in 3 academic semesters and grants 90 ECTS. After the successful completion of the program, the MSc “Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism” is awarded.

Object

The object of I.P.P.S. “Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism” is the study and research of the various religious and pilgrimage data of the Greek area, but also more broadly of the Balkans and Asia Minor, as well as the area of the Holy Lands, which data include the testimonies of sources and traditions about the various pilgrimages, as well as the ways of projecting and highlighting them.

Purpose

The purpose of the Program is the cultivation and promotion of scientific knowledge and research in the fields referred to in the theoretical background of religious and pilgrimage tourism, but also the provision and development of skills for those interested in being employed in the field of religious and pilgrimage tourism or working professionally with it in the public or private sector.

Goals

The main objectives of the Program are the following:

  1. The provision of high-level postgraduate studies in its subject and the development of critical and research skills required for doctoral-level studies.
  2. The training and provision of graduates with specialized knowledge in religious and pilgrimage tourism matters.
  3. The development of capacities for interdisciplinary treatment of complex practical issues related to the subjects in question.
  4. The academic research approach to the subject with the convergence of various scientific resources from related sciences.
  1. The acquisition of skills for the organization and general management of the tourist exploitation of religious and pilgrimage tourism data.
  2. The production of new knowledge and scientific work, which will enrich the knowledge of the subject, will deepen the phenomenon of religious and pilgrimage tourism and contribute to the interpretation and understanding of its various aspects.
  3. The training of theologians, historians, philologists, executives of the Church, and tourism professionals with subject-related knowledge so that they can offer high-quality professional work and become executives in organizations related to the fields of the Program.

The more specific purpose of I.P.P.S. “Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism”  is the pastoral training of those interested and the deepening and promotion of specialized theological studies, which serve the relations between the churches, Orthodox and inter-Christian and inter-religious, and the connection of the science of Theology with society.