Skip to main content

Why us?

Mechanical Engineering is one of the leading and driving sectors of industrial manufacturing in Italy: in terms of per-capita manufacturing production (2017) our country ranks 2nd in Europe and 7th on a worldwide scale (Confindustria, Rapporto 2021 Scenari industriali CSC “La manifattura al tempo della pandemia. La ripresa e le sue origini”, novembre 2021).

Within this scenario, a Doctoral Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano represents a key instrument to access leader enterprises in one of the most profitable sectors worldwide; it is a stepping stone to prominent positions in large international firms devoted to research and development, innovation and design.

Our PhD Programme forms highly skilled profiles, qualified to meet academic and industrial most challenging demands: we will train you to embrace careers and industrial paths at the forefront of technology, responding efficiently to a call for innovation and top-level research in Italy, in Europe, and worldwide.

Doctoral training for external candidates
Starting 2019, Politecnico di Milano has established to open its doctoral courses to all interested external candidates. To be enrolled, candidates must register to the POLIMI website and then they will find in their online services webpage the function “Application for doctoral single courses”.

By selecting it, candidates will be asked to choose the course(s) of interest (up to 10 credits per year) and to upload a CV and a motivation letter.

Their request will be evaluated promptly. In case of positive evaluation (which depends also on the course slots availability), candidates will proceed with the registration and may start attending the course. After successful completion of the course training, the candidates will be able to download from the same website a certificate attesting the earned credits.

The registration fee amounts to 500,00 € / 5 credits. Selected categories (including Visiting PhDs, PhD candidates of Institutions with which agreements have been signed, and employees of companies which have signed a “Joint Research Center” agreement with POLIMI) will receive a fee waiver, and will be requested to pay only the cost of the stamp and the insurance.

To inspect the PhD courses offer of the PhD course in Mechanical Engineering please visit the website.

Facts and figures
Founded in 1863, today Politecnico di Milano is ranked 1st for its Engineering programmes in Italy and 13th worldwide for Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing engineering (Qs World University Rankings 2022).

The Doctoral Programme in Mechanical Engineering is part of the PhD School of Politecnico di Milano, which is currently mastering 20 different programmes in Engineering, Design and Architecture, enrolling over 1.000 students. As the number of foreign PhD candidates is rapidly increasing, with a growing percentage of Asian and Middle-Eastern students, the Doctoral School of Politecnico di Milano stands out today as one of Italy’s largest international hubs for scientific research.

Today, within our Department, 44% of PhD Candidates are foreigners; female presence (Italian and non-Italian) accounts for 18%.