Every year the PhD School organizes a number of intensive (20-hour) courses, held by faculty members and prominent national and international experts. The courses are often publicized by the member of the PhD board through the channels of the National Groups and are open freely for PhD students of other Universities. The courses range from advanced mathematics and physics to engineering topics.
The courses offered by the School are divided in 2 groups: Group 1 includes basic courses of general interest, e.g., advanced Mathematics, Physics, Numerical Calculus, Operation Research, etc. Group 2 includes specialistic courses of main interest to specific curricula. All courses have a duration of 16-20 hours, and foresee a written or oral assessment test for the accreditation. This test is often faced after the course, in order to give to the students the possibility to mature the concepts learned during the course.
At the beginning of each year, typically in December, students must prepare a study plan and submit it to the PhD board for approval.
The study plan of the first year must include two courses of Group 1, two courses of Group 2, and one elective course. Elective courses can be chosen among all the courses offered by the PhD school, and also from PhD programs offered by other Institutes or included in the program of national and international PhD summer schools. To be eligible, the courses organized by external institutions must have a certified length of at least 16 hours and must include a final test assessing the knowledge acquired by the students.
The study plan of the second year must include one course among those offered by the department and two elective courses.
The third year the study plan must include two elective courses.