South American countries experiences high levels of crime and violence and consequently a sense of public insecurity, where public bodies capacities to prevent and control crime is limited. This is partially explained by a weak tradition in education provision in the areas of criminology & public security, reflected in limited professional capacities among public officers, not enough skilled to address this societal problem. Academic offers in this area are not widespread, and the existing ones generated an approach to the problems through the hardening of penalties (reform penal codes).
Further, the necessary multidisciplinary approach (with other social sciences) is reduced or null.In order to strengthen scientific cooperation & knowledge transfer (evidence-based) SuCCESS aims to strengthening South American teachers and researchers capacity and body of knowledge to develop and improve academic offers in the areas of criminology & public safety, including the development of 4 new masters degrees and 2 new post-graduation/specialization courses, improvement of 2 existing master degrees and the update of lessons and curricular approach in specific Bachelors, through the sharing of experience, knowledge and competences from European Universities. Considering the significant progresses in research and training in these fields in Europe, SuCCESS will promote Euro-South American cooperation and knowledge transfer contributing to improve training of the professionals to perform at higher standards in areas such as crime prevention, delinquency control, public security and social reintegration of ex-convicts, etc., is necessary.
SuCCESS assumes that education based on multidisciplinary approach is the key to build a better society: teachers and researchers will develop their capacity on citizen security & criminology issues, enabling the creation of new and improved societal responses, and train students to develop their own solutions and apply them in the real world.