Founded in 1978, the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) is an internationally renowned degree-granting Italian institute for research and post-graduate studies, leading to a doctorate degree. It is the only institute of its kind in the Italian university system and presently one of three training schools in Italy designated as a 'centre of excellence'.

SISSA's recruitment of students, totaling about 160 each year, takes place on an international basis through competitive entrance examinations. Students receive full financial assistance for their three- to four-year course of study.

SISSA's permanent teaching staff consists of 50 full and associate professors and researchers, as well as a large number of visiting scientists and post-doctorate students.

While the majority of SISSA's scientific and administrative staff are from Italy, several hail from other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.

SISSA's success is due not only to its intensive course of study and low student/teacher ratios, but to its close contact with other institutions that form part of the Trieste System, most notably the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). The two institutions, which are next door to one another, pursue a number of joint projects and programmes.

SISSA's curriculum covers the following fields of scientific inquiry:

÷ Astrophysics: pursuit of such unsolved questions as black holes and dark matter.

÷ Biophysics: examination of transmission, integration and processing of nerve signals and onset and development of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

÷Cognitive neuroscience: investigation of learning and memory, brain development and perception by means of imaging techniques.

÷ Condensed matter physics: theoretical and applied research in properties of matter that include investigations of superconductivity, nanomaterials, and industrial materials.

÷ Elementary particle physics: analysis of basic particle interactions, emphasizing CP symmetry, neutrinos and string theory.

÷ Functional analysis: study of non-linear differential equations, calculus variations and control theory.

÷Mathematical physics: examination of mathematical aspects of quantum physics and geometrical methods.

÷ Statistical and biological physics: theoretical and methodogical analysis of such biological processes as protein folding and enzymatic catalysis.

SISSA is also home to an Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Advanced Studies (ILAS), which was founded in 1986 for the purposes of exploring new avenues of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of science and the humanities.

The Master in Science Communication, launched in 1992, has been a fruitful byproduct of this initiative. This part-time two-year course, designed for graduates in both the sciences and the humanities, has served as a training ground for scores of graduates now employed as science journalists and communicators across Italy.

SISSA has also launched several innovative international initiatives in the growing field of electronic communications.

For example, the Journal of High Energy Physics (JHEP), begun by SISSA in 1997, was the first on-line high-energy physics journal to supply worldclass refereed articles via the internet. SISSA will soon launch new electronic journal in cosmology and astroparticles physics.

ULISSE, an electronic service that is designed to put the public in touch with scientists, offers up-to-date, easy-to-understand information on a variety of scientific topics. The service, which began in 2000, takes advantage of on-line publishing tools to transmit the information rapidly over the internet.

Well-equipped laboratories and a state-of-the-art computing centre and library (with more than 400 print and 3,000 on-line journal subscriptions and 16,000 scientific monographs) ensure a worldclass environment for research and education.

In 2001, SISSA launched with ICTP a joint master's degree programme, "Modeling and Simulation of Complex Realities," that is designed to provide students with the mathematical and statistical tools they need to address the non-linear and complex nature of natural and human-made systems.

As part of the Italian national system of higher education, SISSA receives the majority of its funding from the Italian government.