Syracuse Academy offers international educational programs aimed at promoting human and environmental peace, prosperity, equity, and justice. We are a mission-driven, values-driven organization dedicated to cultural exchange, community building, holistic sustainable development, and the belief that no person or place should be left behind in the pursuit of societal advancement.

As a Sicilian organization, we are committed to promoting the island's health and vitality, as well as the health and vitality of its inhabitants, institutions, and natural ecosystems, including land and marine biodiversity and climate change resilience, while also addressing regional and global issues.

We believe that international educational institutions should provide innovative, collaborative, and intercultural learning experiences while also attempting to provide major advantages to the local and global communities through proactive participation. Intercultural student learning and development takes place best within the framework of purposeful, subject-focused, and experiential education that also supports community sustainability, well-being, equity, prosperity, and opportunity.


Social Justice and Migration in Sicily
Investigate current global social issues such as human rights and mobility, criminal justice, and labor. Learn firsthand from community leaders, non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives, and institutional representatives.

This Study Track program focuses on Critical Global Issues, as identified within the framework of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. 
Each study track has a selection of one to five taught or research-based courses depending on the study length a student chooses: Summer Terms (4 or 8 weeks), Semesters (12 weeks), or full Academic Years (26 weeks). 

Not all classrooms have four walls. All our programs are designed with the fundamental principle that we view Syracuse, our city and home, as a living laboratory within which students can engage with Critical Global Issues in real-life contexts. 

With 2 state-of-the-art Study Centers and longstanding partnerships with local research and higher education institutions, Syracuse Academy serves as a gateway for international students and scholars to unlock the wide array of academic resources and opportunities available in Sicily and in the Central Mediterranean region.

In the Mediterranean, are Southern borders dividers or connecting spaces? Sicily, which is located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea and receives a large influx of asylum seekers, economic migrants, and unaccompanied minors, stands out as an ideal laboratory for investigating contemporary global migration challenges.
It provides the opportunity to study the various aspects of migration in terms of politics and policies, smuggling and trafficking phenomena, and media framing and coverage. It provides the opportunity to create comparative research designs with other countries, regions, or critical southern borders (e.g. US-Mexico border; Myanmar-Thailand border etc.).

Courses in this Study Track include: 
 

• Migration across the Mediterranean: Human Rights and the Media
• The Antimafia Movement & Ethical Business: The Impact of Organized Crime
• Mediterranean Food Systems: Identity, Migration & Labor in Sicily 
• Field Research Project: Systems Thinking & Sustainability
• Italian Language and Culture