Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies. Photo: Mike Peel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
SISSA, the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, is a public graduate school founded in 1978 that trains researchers at PhD level in physics, mathematics and neuroscience. It is not a conventional university with bachelor's degrees: it is a small research institution with about 80 professors, around 100 post-doctoral fellows and 300 PhD students. Its campus is at Via Bonomea 265 in Trieste, in Friuli Venezia Giulia.
SISSA offers 11 PhD courses across its three research areas of physics, mathematics and neuroscience, each ending with a final examination for the Italian Dottore di ricerca title after three or four years. Courses include Astrophysics and Cosmology, Theoretical Particle Physics, Statistical Physics, Theory and Numerical Simulation of Condensed Matter, Geometry and Mathematical Physics, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Functional and Structural Genomics.
SISSA selects its PhD students every year through an entrance examination held in Trieste, and candidates from outside the EU can also be admitted through a preselection based on academic qualifications alone. As for any Italian PhD, you normally need a master's-level degree. Places are few and funded, so the competition is real. SISSA advises contacting a principal investigator listed on each PhD course's faculty page to discuss your research interests.
You apply to SISSA by answering its yearly PhD call for the course you want, then sitting the entrance examination in Trieste or, if you are from outside the EU, being preselected on your qualifications. The call sets the deadlines, the number of fellowships and the documents required, so read it in full. SISSA's Students' Secretariat handles administrative questions, and its Welcome Office helps admitted students with visas, housing and healthcare.
A PhD at SISSA is built around funded places: positions are advertised with fellowships, sometimes co-funded by partner institutions, and each year's call states how many there are and what they pay. This is very different from bachelor's and master's study in Italy, where tuition is set by family income (ISEE). Fellowship amounts and any fees change from call to call, so check the latest SISSA call rather than figures quoted online.
No, the usual ISEE-based fee and DSU scholarship model does not really apply at SISSA. ARDiS, Friuli Venezia Giulia's right-to-study agency, lists the universities of Trieste and Udine, plus local conservatories and the Udine fine arts academy, as eligible for its 2026/27 scholarship call, not SISSA. At SISSA, support comes through the PhD fellowship. If you first need a master's degree, the University of Trieste or Udine, with ARDiS support, may be the right step.
SISSA is highly selective: it has about 300 PhD students in total across 11 courses, chosen through a competitive examination or, for non-EU candidates, a preselection on qualifications. It publishes no acceptance rate. Strong candidates typically bring excellent grades in physics, mathematics or neuroscience, clear research interests and contact with a potential supervisor. If your background is mainly applied or professional, a master's at a larger university may be a better first step.
SISSA is too small and specialised for most global tables: it is not ranked in the QS World University Rankings 2027 or the THE World University Rankings 2026. It is in the 901 to 1000 band of ARWU 2026, and its subject results are stronger: Mathematics is 51 to 75 and Physics 151 to 200 in ShanghaiRanking's 2026 subject rankings. For a PhD, your supervisor, research group and funding matter far more than any whole-institution ranking.
Life at SISSA means living in Trieste, a port city on the Adriatic in Friuli Venezia Giulia, close to the Slovenian border and home to other international research centres such as ICTP. SISSA's campus is at Via Bonomea 265, and its Welcome Office supports newcomers with visas, housing, healthcare and daily life. SISSA publishes no official rent range, so use the Welcome Office and the SISSA Vademecum, and visit or video-call before paying any housing deposit.
SISSA is a graduate research school, while the University of Trieste and the University of Udine are full universities with bachelor's and master's degrees; in Censis 2026/27, Udine is joint 3rd and Trieste 5th among Italy's medium-sized public universities. SISSA is closer in model to Italy's other Scuole Superiori, such as Scuola Normale Superiore and Sant'Anna in Pisa, which also select by competition. In Trieste it works alongside ICTP, with which it has run a joint PhD.
SISSA is the right choice if you already hold, or are finishing, a strong master's-level degree in physics, mathematics or neuroscience and want a research career. It suits students who can work independently in small, research-led groups and who are ready for a competitive selection. It is not an option for a bachelor's degree or a taught professional master's, and if you need the ISEE fee model or a DSU scholarship, look at the University of Trieste or Udine instead.
ApplyAZ is built for applications to English-taught degree programmes at Italian public universities, so for a SISSA PhD the honest advice is usually to apply directly and talk to potential supervisors yourself. Where we help is the step before: if you need a master's first, we shortlist 20 to 30 English-taught programmes, write your CV and SOPs, and handle Universitaly, DSU and visa paperwork, with a named person owning each stage. See how ApplyAZ works or check your eligibility.
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