More and more scholarships for doctoral students, more and more commitment from the Sicily Region towards those who continue their post-university path.
Already at the beginning of May the financing had already tripled in amount, further increasing from 12 to 13.8 million euros and the same amount was also allocated for the year 2025/2026. The funds made available by the Schifani government are thus close to 28 million in total for the next two academic years.
«My government believes and invests in the higher education of our young people – says the President of the Region, Renato Schifani –. The objective is to enhance the best resources of Sicily and prevent them from being forced to abandon the island. For this reason we have increased the Region’s financial effort, with resources more than tripled compared to last year, and also based on a two-year program. A strategic investment to support young researchers and at the same time enhance innovation and development.”
For the regional councilor for education and professional training, Mimmo Turano, this is «an impressive moral and substantial commitment that we are carrying out with great conviction. Sicily can solve many of its problems by investing first and foremost in knowledge and specialization. Only in this way can it confirm the undeniable signs of awakening and growth that we are recording. Higher education is the culmination of the complex educational challenge that we have taken up in the long term, and without sparing ourselves.”
The notice, which uses resources from the ESF+ Sicily 2021/2027 regional programme, is intended to finance the doctoral scholarships of all Sicilian universities according to three guidelines: type A, for “classic” doctorates; type B, which involves collaboration between universities and other public research bodies (such as the Cnr, the Irccs, the INGV, the Infn) with operational headquarters in Sicily, through the tool of co-tutoring; finally, with a specific funding line, research doctorate courses of national interest, for which the maximum number of 45 is confirmed.
Type A and B doctorates, however, increase from approximately 50 to 128 overall. Co-tutoring will be activated with reference to the individual doctoral scholarship following the stipulation of an agreement or convention between the university on the one hand, and a research body or organization on the other. For each regional scholarship, the doctoral student is expected to carry out a period of study and research abroad for between 8 and 12 months.
Another novelty is the decision to allocate a further 5 percent of the sums requested by each university to activities “supporting the governance and training of the transversal skills of doctoral students”, from seminars to coordination for the best effectiveness of the financed higher education courses.
