With the Decree of the Ministry of University and Research n. 141 of 27/01/2022 (published in GURI n.65 of 18/03/2022) the Southern Higher School was established as of 2 April 2022 as a University Education Institute of Higher Doctoral Training with a special organization with personality legal under public law and didactic, scientific, organizational, financial, managerial, administrative, patrimonial and accounting autonomy.
The Southern High School contributes to ensuring a more equitable distribution of the High Schools in the national territory and has the task of contributing to the general progress of the university system and of promoting collaboration with other schools and universities, both Italian and international. With the same decree, the Statute of the SSM was also approved, drawn up by the Organizing Committee which will ensure its functioning by carrying out the functions and tasks of the statutory bodies to be established within the timeframe marked by the same Statute. Until 1 April 2022, the Southern High School has set up a Strategic Project of the University of Naples Federico II which has played the role of incubator.
The School is divided into two interdisciplinary academic structures: the humanistic-legal interdisciplinary area and the scientific-technological interdisciplinary area. It organizes:
a) pre-doctoral training courses and research and post-doctoral training courses, aimed at highly qualified scholars, researchers, professionals and managers;
b) PhD courses of high international profile, which combine pure research and applied research in collaboration with federated universities or other universities;
c) ordinary and master courses.
The pre-doctoral training courses or the "ordinary courses" have the aim of integrating and raising the quality and level of university preparation of the students, developing their critical spirit; these courses include teaching, seminars, foreign language lectures, laboratory exercises at the School, as well as periods of study, internships and traineeships at highly qualified institutions and other activities aimed at enriching the training of students.
The "Doctorate courses" are intended to train young researchers in an international and interdisciplinary perspective, offering them opportunities for theoretical and methodological study also thanks to advanced research experiences; the courses last no less than four years. At the end of the courses, the School confers the title of dr. research (Ph.D.).
The thematic areas in which the Southern High School is divided, which correspond to the ten doctoral areas of the same, are the following:
- Archeology and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Historical research, conservation, use of heritage
- Clinical and Translational Oncology
- Cosmology, space science & space technology
- Genomic and experimental medicine
- Global history and governance
- Law and organizational studies for people with disabilities
- Mathematical and physical sciences for advanced materials and technologies
- Modeling and engineering risk and complexity
- Molecular sciences for earth and space
- Texts, traditions and cultures of the book. Italian Studies and Novels
Every year the Southern High School announces a public competition for admission to the Ordinary Course, open to female students under the age of 21, who enroll, at the University of Naples Federico II, for a three-year degree and for students. under the age of 25, who enroll in the master's degree at the University of Naples Federico II.
To participate in the competition for admission to the first year of three-year degrees and single-cycle degrees, the candidate must have achieved an evaluation of not less than 85/100 in the upper secondary education diploma. For admission to the fourth year (first year of the master's degree) the candidate must have obtained (or will achieve by 31 October) a three-year degree that gives access to master's degree courses in Italian universities, with an assessment of not less than 105 / 110.
The tests are aimed at assessing the preparation, talent and potential of the candidates. Admissions are held in both Italian and English.
The Southern High School provides students of the Ordinary Course with free board and lodging at its residences, exemption from university fees and a monthly contribution.
The doctoral offer of the Southern High School is divided into ten doctoral courses corresponding to the thematic areas listed above and organized around interdisciplinary themes capable of attracting students from different scientific areas and such as to allow the contamination of ideas. To this end, the doctorates have a duration of four years so as to be able to dedicate the first year to an intense didactic activity useful to complete the preparation of the doctoral students in the fields less close to what they studied in the degree course.
The admission procedures for doctoral students, in line with the provisions of similar Italian and foreign institutions, are identified as follows:
participation in the competition, without age and citizenship limits, to all those who are in possession of one of the following qualifications at the expiry date of the announcement:
- specialist or master's degree awarded pursuant to Ministerial Decree 509/1999 and subsequent amendments and / or additions;
- degree obtained in accordance with the previous educational systems (whose legal course lasts at least four years);
- suitable academic qualification obtained at foreign universities.
In order to strengthen the lines of research connected to the doctoral areas, the Scuola Superiore Meridionale also provides for the performance of post-doctoral research activities following the issuing of tenders pursuant to art. 22 of the law n. 204/2010 subsequent amendments, intended for Italian and foreign scholars in possession of a scientific-professional curriculum suitable for carrying out research activities.