The European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) refers to the doctrine and programmes created to identify and protect critical infrastructure that, in case of fault, incident or attack, could seriously impact both the country where it is hosted and at least one other European Member State.

The EPCIP came about as a result of a consultation in 2004 by the European Council, seeking a programme to protect critical infrastructure through its ‘Communication on Critical Infrastructure Protection in the Fight against Terrorism'.

In December 2004 it endorsed the intention of the European Commission to propose a European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) and agreed to the creation of a European Critical Infrastructure Warning Information Network (CIWIN).

The European Commission issued its finalised design as a directive EU COM (2006) 786; this obliged all member states to adopt the components of the EPCIP into their national statutes. Not only did it apply to main area of the European Union but also to the wider European Economic Area.

EPCIP also identified National Critical Infrastructure (NCI) where its disruption would only affect a single Member State.

It set the responsibility for protecting items of NCI on its owner/operators and on the relevant Member State and encouraged each Member State to establish its own National CIP programme.

Aims and professional opportunities

The program provides students with key qualifications for engineering positions which require innovative, enterprising solutions to deal with a wide variety of natural dangers, such as earthquakes, floods and storms. The course aims to prepare technicians to:

• Detect fault precursors;
• Recognize the evolution of (natural and anthropic) events that may affect NCI;
• Analyse the impact of events on NCI and related risks;
• Prepare responses to events
• Prevent negative impact on NCI.

- Pre - requisites for enrolment

The course is open to candidates having successfully completed Italian B.Sc. course in Engineering or any equivalent course according to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

- Maximum and minimum number of students

The course is open to a maximum of 40 students and it will be activated only if a minimum number of 20 students has the minimum requisites for admission.

Applicants must attach the following documentation during the on-line registration procedure to the master:

• Admission form (the form to be used is annexed)
• Copy of the personal identification document
• In case of title obtained abroad:
  • copy of the academic title required for admission with diploma supplement (list of exams and scores), translated into Italian
  • copy of the "Declaration of value" issued by Italian representation competent for territory in the country of the institution that issued the title (only if already available)
• Letters of reference;
• Motivational letter;
• Curriculum vitae highlighting the professional experience in working areas pertaining to the master;

Applicants in possession of a title obtained abroad must, before registration, deliver the documentation in the original to the university accompanied by legal translation by the Italian embassy or other consular representative.

The requirements must be held within the deadline for submission of the application for admission.

- Selection process

Admission to the Master is done after selection, by qualifications. The selection is in any case expected even in the presence of a number of requests for participation that is lower than the number of places banned. In particular, the evaluation will be aimed at verifying the adequacy of the qualifications presented by the candidate with the application. They will be evaluated for admission to the Master:

- degree mark (max 20 points);

- any experience gained in relevant in-service activities (max 10);

- any other titles present in the curriculum (max 10 points)

- publications (max 10 points);

- motivation to participate (max 10 points)

Students attending the merit list drawn up by the Commission of selection and made public on the University website, as individual notification for all interested parties, will be admitted to the Master's degree.

At the same total score, the ranking will be determined on the basis of the age of the candidates, from the youngest to the oldest (Article 2, paragraph 9, Law 16/06/1998 n.191) .

The course will start in September 2019.

The deadline for admission form submission is June 30th, 2019.

Selection process will be carried out in July 2019 and acceptance notice will be delivered by the end of July 2019. 

Students may select one of the following venues to complete the course and receive certification:

Enna, Italy

The course will be held at the University of Enna "Kore" (Italy) – School of Engineering and Architecture from 1 Sep/ 30 June 2020. The course should last a duration of 3 weeks and a total of 120 hours. Laboratory work and final examinations will be held in the university. 

Egypt 

Students who will not be able to travel may attend lectures in classrooms in one of IEREK's offices in Cairo or Alexandria. However, students will be required to complete Laboratory work (120 hours – 3 weeks) and final exams at the University of Enna in Italy.

Online

In order to facilitate the participation of foreign students, lectures may be also available online in real time.  However, students will be required to complete Laboratory work (120 hours – 3 weeks) and final exams at the University of Enna in Italy.

Each student has to guarantee a minimum course attendance (in presence or online) equal to 70% of the total temporal duration.Minimum attendance applies to each learning module and to the training stage period.

The official course language is English. Each module will be formed by lectures, project work and laboratory activities, individual study.

(*) according to Italian Regulation

Learning modules                                                                                                                 45 ECTS

1. Strategic transport network risk management (ICAR/04)                              9 ECTS

Aim: The course provides to the student the analysis of model’s application developed from Engineering of Road Infrastructures, in reference to road transport networks, in particular, and railway and airport. The student will also know the evidence for the geometrical and mechanical characterization of the basic material, the fundamentals of "mix design" of asphalt, built design of road superstructures beyond the sizing methods. These goals could lead to an overall knowledge about main tool suitable for road infrastructures risk management.

Contents: The course is divided into three parts. In the first part it should be explore the topics of reference of the road embankment and the characterization of road materials. The second part illustrates the building schemes and implementation phases of road superstructures over the methods of dimensioning, analyzing also the most common tests in the laboratory and on site for the study and characterization of materials. The third part refers to the main problems of the risk management of railway and airports infrastructure. At the end of the course the student is able to design in terms of structural and geotechnical road internal structure and to understand the main management techniques of the transport performance required by the specifications of risk.

2. Geotechnical vulnerability mitigation (ICAR/07)                              9 ECTS

Aim: Modern societies are not only dependent on the infrastructure systems for people’s daily mobility and goods transport, but it also serves as a life-line system for rescuing people and economic values and for repairing and restoring other infrastructure systems when they are disrupted. Infrastructures networks play a vital role in maintaining a functioning modern society, and their assets it is so significant that the problem of their conservation and protection is certainly a priority. In high-risk areas, it is essential the improvement of knowledge’s in the field of hazard assessment and mitigation of damages.

Contents: In the course, based on these considerations and with the help of some case histories, the geotechnical aspects related to the assessment of the vulnerability of critical infrastructures are analyzed. It is discussed the capability of the prevision models to provide guidance on the useful life of structures, also in relation to the levels of functionality. With this aim the course analyzes the geotechnical aspects related to a better knowledge of the territory, also by developing widespread smart technologies.

3. Structural modelling and dynamic analysis (ICAR/08)                              9 ECTS

Aim: the course aims to prepare the students to build and use numerical models of critical infrastructures for structural design and safety assessment of both new and existing structures. The students will learn how to use modern analytic and experimental equipment to assess the potential dangers and damages due to natural phenomena, how to create models and simulations, and will be trained for conducting projects and risk analyses. The analytic tools provided by the course will be applied to real cases in laboratory and in situ environment.

Contents: Basics of structural mechanics, dynamic of structures, structural modelling via Finite Element method, stochastic dynamics, modelling of environmental hazards (wind, earthquake, etc.), experimental modal analysis, operational modal analysis, system identification techniques, model updating, modeling of passive control devices, principles of structural health monitoring.

4. Structural vulnerability mitigation (ICAR/09)                              9 ECTS

Aim: The course aims to provide an overview on the performance-based assessment and retrofit of existing structures. It offers concepts on the static safety/seismic vulnerability and on the retrofit design in according to serviceability and ultimate limit state. The students are going to get to know the relationship between local structural response and global engineering parameters by means theoretical lectures and practical applications also with the use of experimental equipment.

Contents: Principles of structural safety and rehabilitation behind modern design codes. Serviceability and ultimate limit states. Knowledge levels, inspections and tests. Performance-based earthquake engineering. Pushover analysis. Criteria for a global design of seismic upgrade. Criteria for a local design of structural reinforcements. Structural durability: monitoring, control and tests.

5. Hydraulic risk analysis and mitigation (ICAR/02)                              9 ECTS

Aim: the course aims to prepare the students to flood analysis with the use of numerical modelling and hydrologic statistical approach. The course will focus on practical aspects with the application to a real case study with the identification of the most effective mitigation strategy

Contents: The water cycle, physical and morphological aspects of natural watersheds, flood hydrology, statistical methods for hydrology, rainfall – runoff transformation and models, flood propagation, numerical methods for flood analysis, remote monitoring of flooded areas, hazard and vulnerability estimation, structural and non-structural mitigation measures, alert and emergency management during events, real time monitoring for emergency management

Training stage in agencies and private firms working on NCI management                 12 ECTS

Final dissertation                                                                                                                  3 ECTS

(*) Master ECTS allow successful students to enroll with credits to the M.Sc. Course in Civil Infrastructure management and maintenance

At the end of each teaching module, students will be asked to successfully complete a final exam based on a written test on the contents of each module and an oral discussion based on the results of the project/practical activities carried out during the course. The average final mark, according to the Italian regulation, will be numerical with a maximum value equal to 30. Final marks lower than 18 will be insufficient. Insufficient exams can be repeated only once.

Final dissertation

At the end of the course, students will have to prepare a final thesis, based on stage activities, with the supervision of one of the teachers of the course. The final dissertation will be evaluated by an examination commission with a mark between 1 and 10 and it will be summed to the final course mark. The final course mark will be given by the average of all course activities weighted on the number of ECTS per each activity.

The cost of the course is fixed on a “first come, first served” basis according to the following table. Discounts applies for early registrants and for B. Sc. and M. Sc. students of University of Enna “Kore”.

-  Two full cost scholarships will be granted to those students best performing at the end of the course. Classification will be based on the final course mark (without considering dissertation marks) and winners will be appointed during final dissertation. Scholarships may be used for future registrations to M.Sc. courses or Master courses at University of Enna “Kore”.