"Per lucem ad astra — through light, to the stars."Paz y Tierra Ediciones · ISBN 979-12-243-3633-4
Mission
The Paraninfo Institute exists to do two things well: to give working professionals a rigorous, accessible route to update and deepen their competence, and to sustain original research whose findings return to the classroom as living material. Teaching and research are not two departments here; they are one movement. What the Institute investigates, it teaches — and what it teaches becomes, in time, a book.
Its fields are chosen where the need is real and the attention scarce: the dignified care of older adults, sustainable food and water systems, comparative legal science across the Chinese and Latin worlds, the honest use of artificial intelligence in qualified practice, and the scientific study of the great traditions. The Institute serves learners in Europe, Latin America and beyond, in the languages in which they live and work.
Principles
Access through merit
The barrier to a Paraninfo programme is admission — preparation, motivation, meeting the requirements — never the ability to pay a premium. A single, public fee scale applies to all; membership makes it more accessible still.
Practice before theory
Every programme is anchored in documented field practice — working field stations, real case material, supervised placements. The Institute teaches what it has done, not only what it has read.
Plural, never sectarian
The Institute belongs to no confession, party or dogma. Its School of Theology studies the sacred texts as science; interpretation belongs to the student.
Honesty over marketing
No inflated titles, no false scarcity, no promises the Institute cannot keep. Certificates are EQF-referenced professional qualifications — not academic degrees, and the Institute says so plainly.
The tenth part returns
Grounded in the Hebrew principle of ma'aser, a share of the Institute's surplus is devoted to humanitarian work. Formation is a circulation, not only a transaction.
A book for every chair
Each field of study is served by its own published materials under the imprint Paz y Tierra Ediciones — each title with its own ISBN, catalogued and in circulation.
The European approach to micro-credentials
Paraninfo's certificates are micro-credentials in the sense established by the European Union: the record of the learning outcomes a learner has acquired following a small volume of professional education, described transparently and referenced to a recognised level.
The Recommendation's own logic governs the Institute's position: micro-credentials are designed to complement and enhance education and employability without replacing existing qualifications and degrees. Accordingly, Paraninfo issues professional qualifications referenced to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) — not academic degrees. The Institute operates within the constitutional freedom of teaching of Article 33, third paragraph, of the Constitution of the Italian Republic (1947), as a private provider of continuing professional education.
Each certificate states its EQF reference level, its notional workload in hours and ECTS (1 ECTS = 25 hours), and its learning outcomes — the transparency the European approach requires.
Governance & direction
The Institute is directed by its Founder-Director, who holds academic, scientific and editorial responsibility, supported by a scientific council and a teaching body drawn from the disciplines themselves — including, for the professional refresher programmes, a corps of retired expert volunteers whose careers become a resource for the next generation.