Superior Graduate Schools in Italy

A Superior Graduate School (Italian: Scuola Superiore Universitaria) is a completely independent institution from a legal point of view, which offers advanced training and research through university-type courses or is dedicated to teaching at graduate or post-doctoral level.

The Superior Graduate Schools (Grandes écoles) in Italy, the Scuola Superiore Universitaria, are recognized by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (Italy)(MIUR) as fully autonomous. Three Superior Graduate Schools have "university status"; three institutes have the status of doctoral colleges, which function at graduate and post-graduate levels; and nine other schools are direct offshoots of universities, lacking independent university status. These state institutions are commonly referred to as Scuole di Eccellenza ("Schools of Excellence")

The institutions offer recognized national and international titles, including the Diploma di Perfezionamento (equivalent to a doctorate), Dottorato di Ricerca ("Research Doctorate"), and Doctor Philosophiae (Ph.D). Some of these institutions, individually or in co-operation with the universities with which they work, also organize courses leading to master's degrees.

The oldest and most famous Superior Graduate School in Italy is the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded in 1810 by Napoleon as a branch of the famous École Normale Supérieure in Paris, upon which it was modelled. The Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies also has long history of existence in Italian education, as its origins are in the Collegio Medico-Giuridico of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and the Conservatorio di Sant'Anna, an even older educational institution with roots in the fourteenth century.

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