The research doctorate is the third level of university education, following the first-level three-year degree and the second-level master's degree. The Ph.D. Programme has a minimum duration of three years. It provides the skills needed to practice research activities of high qualification at universities, public authorities or private entities.

According to Article 6 of the University Charter (Statuto di Ateneo) Ph.D. students are students in all respects. The Ph.D. Programme requires an exclusive, full-time commitment, with the exception of what is provided for by the University Regulations for Ph.D. Programmes.

A student can be admitted to a Ph.D. Programme only by passing an examination, after having submitted an application within the terms and in the forms provided for by the call for applications, published every year in spring by the University website, the site of the Ministry for University and Research, and the Euraxess site. The University Regulations for Ph.D. Programmes provide specific exceptions to the aforementioned admittance procedure for some types of research doctorates.

The Ph.D. degree is granted to students who pass a final examination, at the end of the Ph.D. Programme. The final examination consists in a thesis discussion.