Level 1 – Lessons delivered online
NEW PROGRAMME – Academic Year 2025/2026 – from October 2025
The first course in Italy for learning the Arabic language and Arab-Islamic culture applied to operational work in counter-terrorism and intelligence, in order to understand more clearly the differences within the fragmented and varied Arab culture and the differences that matter for operational counter-terrorism work. How to avoid mistakes, how to rule out misunderstandings, how to set up an investigation better.
How to address a terrorist, how to understand what he is saying, how to read the words, the signals and the behaviour of Arab culture and of the Arabic language, how to interpret expressions and idioms, how to tell the official language from the various dialects…
The skills acquired on the “Course in Arabic language and culture interfaced with operational counter-terrorism and intelligence” will be immediately applicable and usable in counter-terrorism and intelligence operations, in investigative work, in analysis, and in information gathering and source handling.
The “Course in Arabic language and culture interfaced with operational counter-terrorism and intelligence” consists of 40 hours of teaching divided into midweek lessons; lessons are held online in interactive form.
Lessons may be attended according to the following formats:
A) lessons scheduled on two midweek days from 20.00 to 23.00
February – March 2026 for the winter session.
B) lessons scheduled one day a week from 20.00 to 23.00
February – May 2026 for the winter/spring session.
The Course is aimed at members of the police forces and of the armed forces serving in Italy or abroad, university students, scholars of the subject, linguistic mediators, translators and interpreters, communication specialists, lawyers, journalists, and all those who may have to operate in and/or manage situations of Islamic terrorism or suspected terrorist activity.
Teaching staff: the course is taught by senior officers of the armed forces, lecturers in Arabic language and culture, and experts in operational intelligence and counter-terrorism.
Updated programme:
Area: Arabic language
- Grammar
- Phonetics and phonology
- Fusha and Ammiya: diglossia in Arabic linguistics
- Operational critical points of the Arabic language: transliteration, intercepts, written material, aliases and databases
- Errors in understanding the Arabic language, the influence of dialects and inflections
- The Arabic language and neologisms: what critical points they raise for Intelligence work
- Key phrases
Area: Arab culture
- Cultural differences in the Arab world
- Anthropology and cross-culture
- Cultural intelligence (Cultural Intelligence)
- Institutions and elements of Islamic studies
- Ethics and discipline according to Islam
- The Islamic lunar calendar: structure, religious aspects, and intelligence predictions
- Arabic onomastics: the socio-geographical influence
Area: Islam
Between “din” and “dunya”. The meaning of Islam
The five pillars of Islam
The true concept of the Caliphate and its instrumental use by ISIS
The origin and development of the internal divisions within Islam
The Qur’an and the altered Qur’an
The manipulation of young people
The Imam, the travelling Imam, the Mufti, Martyrdom and the Shahida
Area: Islamic law
- Ahkam: the five categories of human action (obligatory acts, discouraged acts…)
- The difference between Ibadat and Mu’amalat (relations with GOD and among Muslims)
- Marriage and temporary marriage
- Sharia criminal law, the Sharia
Area: Operational counter-terrorism & Intelligence
- Operational counter-terrorism: imminent developments and the terrorism risk
- New focuses of terrorism
- Intelligence analysis: future projections of jihadist activity and operational priorities
- The rising risk of attacks and counter-measures
- Jihadist thought: ideologies, strategies, doctrines
- Attitude and behaviour
- Reading the details
- The being that is not
- Behaviour analysis based on negative reinforcement
- Geopolitical framing of the Islamic world
- Geopolitics and indicators
- Anthropological influences in operational work
Dates:
- format A): 10 February – 24 March 2026 (lessons: Tuesday and Thursday)
- format B): 12 February – 07 May 2026 (lessons: Thursday)
- Methodology: online lessons
- Language: Italian and Arabic (with native-speaker teachers)
- Course registration fee: €700.00
Registration fee under agreement: €500.00 (students and former students of École Universitaire Internationale; university students/researchers/doctoral candidates/recent graduates; members of the Armed Forces; the Police Forces; the Public Administration; International Organisations; professionals in the sector; other agreements in force)
Admission: subject to assessment of the candidate’s C.V. (or a short profile), which should be sent to the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Those who have already attended courses at École Universitaire Internationale need only send an e-mail stating that they wish to take part in the course.
No knowledge of the Arabic language is required.
A diploma will be issued. A final assessed examination is available for those who are interested.
For information and contacts: [email protected]
Note: participants who wish to sit the examination certifying their command of the Arabic language may refer to our teacher of Arabic, who will indicate the language centres where the Arabic examination can be taken. This clearly falls outside the remit of École Universitaire Internationale (EU reference framework ILA-A1; ILA-A2).