The Politecnico di Milano
The Politecnico di Milano is one of the most outstanding technical universities in Europe, ranked 1st in Italy and 142th in the world by the “QS World University Ranking 2022 (June 2021)” [ranking]. Founded in 1863, it is the largest school of Architecture, Design and Engineering in Italy, with two main campuses located in Milan, the heart of fashion and design industries and the venue of Expo 2015, and five more campuses around the Lombardy region. Many important scientists and architects studied and taught here, among them Achille Castiglioni, Gio Ponti, Renzo Piano and Aldo Rossi, both Pritzker Prize winners in 1990 and 1998 respectively, and Giulio Natta, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1963.
The PhD School
The Politecnico di Milano was one of the first universities in Italy to establish a School of Doctoral Programmes in 2001 with a view to coordinating, assessing and monitoring the single doctorate programmes. The School offers courses to develop complementary abilities, such as seminars of epistemology, research policy and management, elements of scientific communication, and so on, whereas the single doctorate provides subjects and infrastructures for research, specific education and tutoring.
The PhD degree is the highest level of university education, aimed at developing abilities of PhD candidates through training and research, as well as promoting new entrepreneurial skills. This results in a research thesis with original contributions, enabling them to take up research activities in industrial settings, in the public and private sectors, in public administration, in research centres and in universities.