The Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is a special-statute, highly selective public research university located in Pisa, Italy. Together with the University of Pisa and Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, it is part of the Pisa University System. The rector is Sabina Nuti, who took office on 7 May 2019. Before her, the rector of the school was Pierdomenico Perata, elected on 8 May 2013 after the resignation of Maria Chiara Carrozza, due to her election as Member of Parliament and appointment as Minister of Education, University and Research. Since January 2014, the school has been presided over by Yves Mény, until the School joined the first Federation of Universities in Italy, together with two among the other twenty Scuole Superiori Universitarie (Grandes Écoles): Scuola Normale Superiore and Scuola Superiore Studi Pavia IUSS. Before him, the president was Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister of Italy and currently judge of the Constitutional Court. The undergraduate Allievi Ordinari of the School are selected through a rigorous public examination with written and oral tests, with about 5% admission rate. They are all awarded a full government-funded scholarship which includes accommodation, canteen, research and travel grants. In exchange, they are expected to hold the highest standards in their studies at both the School and at the partner Universities.

History

The present-day Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is the descendant of several institutions modelled on the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, also known in Italian as Scuola Normale, which is a higher learning institution in Pisa. It was founded in 1810, by Napoleonic decree, as a branch of the École normale supérieure of Paris. The school, whose origins, in the context of the Pisa university reality, are rooted in the Collegio Medico-Giuridico already attached to the Scuola Normale Superiore and the Collegio ‘Antonio Pacinotti, and was formally established by the Law of 14 February 1987, No. 41, which marked the unification of the Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Law (7 March 1967), No. 117, and the Conservatorio di Sant’Anna, the Royal Decree of 13 February 1908 No. LXXVIII.

Origins of Sant'Anna

The present-day site is acquired from a very ancient religious educational establishment. The Sant'Anna Church and Convent was established in 1406, while the church was finished in 1426, by the Order of the Benedictine Nuns (OSB). In 1785, the Conservatorio di Sant'Anna was initiated by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor as a consequence of abolition of the religious orders due to Leopold's reforms; the convent was suppressed in 1786.

The present-day structure

Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and the University of Pisa create the Pisa University System. The Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies has been given separate university status by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (Italy) and together with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa is leading the model of Scuole di Eccellenza, i.e. Superior Graduate School in Italy (Grandes écoles)

Organization

Students are admitted after passing public national and international competitions. Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies offers to those who decide to take excellence, a multi-disciplinary approach to learning, research, and internationalization.

Academics and research

Students are admitted after passing public national and international competitions. The fields of study and research are:

Undergraduate programs

Prospective undergraduates undergo a rigorous public examination, and only the very best are creamed off to combine their Pisa University studies with the extra options available at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, thus these students are called Honors College Students. Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna is also integrated with the Scuola Normale Superiore and Honors College Students are free to attend courses provided by departments other than their own, as well as those provided by the Scuola Normale Superiore. , 50 freshmen are admitted per year, equally divided between the Class of Social Sciences and the Class of Experimental Sciences. The School offers all of its services free of charge (accommodation, canteen, internet connection, library); students also receive a small yearly income for their maintenance. While attending the Pisa University courses, the Honors College Students (allievi) live in the school's college. Students have to achieve a high average grade in university exams (at least 27/30) and attend internal courses (including foreign language classes offered in French, Spanish, German and Chinese) taught by professors and researchers working at the School, both as an integration and as an extension to the regular academic schedule.

Graduate programs

The School also offers graduate courses such as master and doctoral programmes, provided by its research laboratories and joint ventures with foreign universities, leading enterprises and international organizations.

Doctoral programs (PhD)

The first institution in Italy to create a doctoral program (PhD) was Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in 1927 under the historic name "Diploma di Perfezionamento". Research doctorates or PhD (Italian: Dottorato di ricerca) in Italy were introduced with law and Presidential Decree in 1980 (Law of 21 February 1980, No. 28 and the Presidential Decree No. 382 of 11 July 1980), referring to the reform of academic teaching, training and experimentation in organisation and teaching methods. Hence, the Superior Graduate Schools in Italy (Grandes écoles) (Italian: Scuola Superiore Universitaria), also called Schools of Excellence (Italian: Scuole di Eccellenza) such as Scuola Normale Superiore and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies still keep their reputed historical "Diploma di Perfezionamento" PhD title by law and MIUR Decree. The Doctoral Programmes at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies grant Diploma di Perfezionamento, a degree fully equivalent to a PhD and are recognized International Doctoral Programmes involving various forms of collaboration and joint ventures with foreign universities.

Post-doctoral education and research

There are also worldwide important international corporations and industrial partners that are closely linked to Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, such as: the nearby Piaggio where there are special Sant'Anna Laboratories at the Polo Sant'Anna Valdera (PSAV), which contributes to the industrial process, Leonardo, Fiat (Centro Ricerche Fiat), Telecom Italia, Marconi Communications, Ericsson Research, Deutsche Telekom, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd, etc. Polo Sant'Anna Valdera (PSAV) is a research center of Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies based in Pontedera (Pisa). It was inaugurated in 2002 thanks to the interest of the then president of Piaggio, Giovanni Alberto Agnelli. The property is housed in converted sheds donated by Piaggio. The main research is in the fields of robotics, bioengineering, biotechnology, precision engineering, computing and virtual environments. Polo Sant'Anna Valdera (PSAV) has 25 offices, 4 classrooms for teaching, 7 laboratories, 20 rooms, all six thousand square meters. There currently employs about hundred people. The most important project in these laboratories is a bionic hand for people to have an upper limb amputee. The ARTS Lab - Advanced Robotics Technology and System, created the famous breakthrough in the field of bio-robotics with the so-called CYBER HAND, shown on CNN International's Vital Signs Life Hand report. Sant'Anna also undertakes many international projects which are tied to the European Commission, the Government of Italy and its ministries, as well as regional projects of the Region of Tuscany and the Province of Pisa. The school maintains a number of research laboratories, some of which are located at the National Research Council (CNR) whose largest research center is in Pisa. In the framework of the bilateral cooperation between Italy and China i.e. the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna hosts the third Italian Confucius Institute. Research Institutes:

Laboratories and research centers

Partner universities and international agreements

Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies has signed international agreements with respected partner universities around the globe.

World rankings

As part of the Pisa University System, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is small and elite, specialised only in applied sciences. The Academic Ranking of World Universities puts it, together with Scuola Normale Superiore, at the 1st place in Italy (National Rank # 1) and within the best 30 universities in Europe. In 2016 Times Higher Education World University Rankings the 150 Under 50 Rankings 2016, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is ranked #10 in the world. As for 2015-16 rankings, Times Higher Education World University Rankings puts Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies at 180th place in the world, 90 place in Europe and 2nd in Italy, and Scuola Normale Superiore 112 place in the world, 50 place in Europe and 1st in Italy. According to Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is in top 20% in teaching, industry income and citations in the world, and Scuola Normale Superiore is in top 10% in teaching and top 20% in research on global level. Also, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies together with Scuola Normale Superiore are named as leading institutions in Italy's six top higher education institutes by Times Higher Education World University Rankings, where for 2014-2015 was ranked at 63rd place in the world and 15th in Europe. Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies has been mapped by Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings as one of the most important educational institutions in Italy (section on Italy i.e. Top universities and specialisms ), having its Graduate/Postgraduate Profile. For 2016 the QS World University Rankings has ranked Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in the subject categories economics and econometrics on world stage at # 201. As far as the rankings in the faculty category is concerned, it is ranked on world stage at # 385 for engineering and technology. The Scimago Institution Ranking are based on the SCOPUS bibliometric database, featuring thirteen performance indicators of, innovation and web visibility. The following are some of Sant'Anna Schools best results at the world and national level: World The official agency of the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR), the Agenzia nazionale di valutazione del sistema universitario e della ricerca (ANVUR) ranks Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies the best small university for 2013 in Italy (National Rank # 1). The European Research Ranking, a ranking based on publicly available data from the European Commission database puts Pisa University System among the best in Italy and best performing European research institutions. In 2008, the Italian website La Voce published a ranking of Italian universities by h-index limited to the Departments of Economics, where Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies acquires the first (#1) place in Italy.

Notable alumni and faculty

Faculty and alumni of note include:

Notes and references