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.

[4] 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.

[29][30] The Superior Graduate Schools in Italy[1] (Italian: Scuola Superiore Universitaria),[31] also called Schools of Excellence (Italian: Scuole di Eccellenza)[1][32] such as Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies keep their historical "Diploma di Perfezionamento" title by law[26][33] and MIUR Decree.