The 6 italian Schools of excellence
The 6 Schools of excellence are italian special statute university institutions, also called "Scuole Universitarie Superiori", holding a unique position within the Italian higher education system. They are public universities in their own right and carry out research and education in applied and pure sciences. Three of them offer undergraduate (three-year degree and master's degree) and post-graduate courses (PhD) meanwhile the other three train only PhD students (GSSI, IMT and SISSA). The Schools of excellence model is based on the French Grandes Ecoles model with basic principles: the selection of students exclusively on the basis of merit and a strong intertwining of teaching and research, community life and a great openness towards international exchanges.
The main goal is to improve student performance through high-quality professional educating. This is pursued and achieved through:
- High quality, interdisciplinary course content;
- Exchange programs with the world's best universities;
- Collaborative research through partnerships;
- Quality apprenticeships, training and international mobility.
In the 2021 edition, some selected students from CCUM and Scuola Superiore di Catania will participate.
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GSSI - Gran Sasso Science Institute - L’Aquila |
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The Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) is an international PhD school and a center for research and higher education in the areas of Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Social Sciences. The GSSI was established as a curiosity-driven science centre, delivering research and training activities in innovative and highly promising fields. Professors, researchers and students from all scientific backgrounds are selected internationally, following the standards set by the best research centers and PhD schools worldwide. In addressing the complexity of today’s world, we are committed to removing all barriers between the areas of study and research at the GSSI, where interdisciplinarity and cross-fertilization underlie everything we do. |
The IMT School is an institution of higher education and research with an historical legacy with the higher education centres established in the town of Lucca since 1300. Tradition and innovation, rigorous selection procedures, multidisciplinary focus on Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, Analysis and management of cultural heritage are the pillars of the IMT School, supporting the development of cutting-edge scientific research and innovation, and its doctoral programs, which attract students, researchers and faculty from around the world. |
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SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste |
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| The University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia focuses its characterization on two research lines with a strong innovative, interdisciplinary and international character: the study of the neurobiological foundations of cognitive and social skills; the assessment and reduction of the risk starting from the effects of the earthquake. International teachers promote students' individual merit and skills in a highly selective environment. The teaching activity is integrates with the research projects by providing challenges and opportunities at various educational levels, both undergraduate and post-graduate (second level masters and PhD) course. | SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste was founded in 1978 and it was the first institution in Italy to promote post-graduate courses for the achievement of the PhD. Located in in the city of Trieste, it features about 70 professors, 130 researchers, 300 PhD students active in three research areas: Physics, Mathematics and Neuroscience. SISSA's main mission has been to train PhD students to the highest international standards. To maintain its competitive level, the School continuously adapts to the evolution of science, which always offers new challenges, often across the borders of traditional disciplines, such us the new research line and doctoral training in Data Science. All the scientific work carried out by SISSA researchers is published regularly in leading international journals, the School has also drawn up over 150 collaboration agreements with the world's leading schools and research institutes, and within the competitive field of European funding schemes SISSA holds the top position among Italian scientific institutes in terms of research grants obtained in relation to the number of researchers and professors. |
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Founded in 1810 by Napoleon, the Scuola Normale Superiore is the first higher education school in Italy. The activity of the Scuola Normale is divided into three Faculties: the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Sciences (both based in Pisa) and the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences (based in Florence). The model of the Normale is based on some basic principles: selection of students exclusively on the basis of merit and of their talent and potential, total gratuitousness of studies and the collegial system, deep interweaving between teaching and research, community life, great openness to international mobility. From the often unexpected meeting of different experiences, hopes, talents, a unique training model is born, which integrates and harmonizes the attitudes of each one: individual skills progress in collective sharing. The School is a leader in research in various fields. His alumni include three Nobel laureates, a Fields medal, two Prime Minister and two Presidents of the Republic. |
Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies is a public university institute working in the field of applied sciences: Economics and Management, Law, Political Sciences, Agricultural Sciences and Plant Biotechnology, Medicine, and Industrial and Information Engineering. The Sant’Anna School aims at experimenting innovative paths in research and education where professors and researchers live and interact with the students, day after day, enjoying a continuous cultural and intellectual exchange. Innovative ideas, which are then developed in collaboration with foreign universities, organizations, companies and research institutes, are generated here. Due to its international nature, education of excellence and scientific community, the Sant’Anna School established itself as a reference both in Italy and abroad and world University rankings confirm the top position: 201st at the international level on a census of 1.662 institutions (World University Rankings) and 3rd at the Italian level. |
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The Scuola Superiore di Catania (SSC) is a higher education Centre of the University of Catania, whose mission is to select brilliant young minds and promote an early start to research for them. The SSC develops culture, scientific research and innovation by offering highly qualified and innovative educational experiences; evaluating and transferring knowledge and technology to the outside world; promoting a scientific community, which is open to cultural growth and liberal social exchange; living in a campus offering facilities, totally free of charge. The SSC is organised in two Classes:
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The “Conferenza dei Collegi Universitari di Merito” (CCUM) is an association that brings together and represents 53 University Colleges of Merit recognised and accredited by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (D.Lgs. 68/2012). The University Colleges of Merit are training centres of excellence that, going beyond the accommodation service, support Italian Universities by providing educational and teaching activities, through an interdisciplinary model that places students at the centre of each activity as people capable of developing a critical sense, judgement and a sense of responsibility. On an international level, they promote and strengthen forms of cooperation with Universities and build connections with civil society, with a special focus on developing transferable skills (soft skills) that are also useful for entering the world of work. The CCUM promotes and develops its activities by drawing on the experience of the University Colleges of Merit and through direct contact with the global Student Affairs and Services associations to which it belongs or with which it collaborates. |
