The School offers Doctoral Programmes both in the form of “Corsi di Perfezionamento” – yielding a degree fully equivalent to a Ph.D. – and of International Doctoral Programmes, involving various forms of collaboration and joint ventures with foreign universities.

Access requires the successful completion of graduate studies (M.A.; M.Sc.; in Italy, Laurea Specialistica or Laurea Magistrale, or equivalent degrees), even if some of the programmes allow application before graduation.

Grants are offered to the majority of the accepted students. The two international doctoral programmes and some of the “perfezionamenti” are fully run in the English language.

The School strives for young and brilliant candidates from all over the world, motivated to pure and applied research, keen in interdisciplinary activities, and offers them a training aimed at forming successful researchers and engineers in public and private institutions, academic scholars and civil servants in national administrations and international organizations.

The three-year programmes entail – in different proportions according to the different disciplines – structured courses and supervised research. Periods of visiting fellowship in other Italian and foreign institutions are encouraged by the School which financially supports them with integrations to the basic grant.

Important features of the programmes offered by the School are the early interaction between training and research activities, and, relatedly, the steady interaction between students and faculty – most often enlarged by several visiting scholars.

The completion of the programme requires the successful discussion of a dissertation presenting original results, publishable on the major international journals in the respective fields.