Sant'Anna School Pisa: world top 200, biorobotics and applied sciences in Italy's academic elite
The Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna ranks in the QS world top 200 for applied sciences and is one of Italy's most selective schools of excellence. Twin of the Scuola Normale, it trains the best talents in biorobotics, biomedical engineering, law, economics and political science with full scholarships. Historic campus in central Pisa.
Sant'Anna: excellence in biorobotics, law and political science in the ancient heart of Pisa
The Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa is one of Italy's most prestigious academic elite institutions, the twin sister of the Scuola Normale Superiore. Ranked in the QS world top 200 for applied sciences and engineering, it admits fewer than 100 students per year — selected through an extraordinarily competitive national competition — offering a full scholarship covering board, lodging and fees. Sant'Anna distinguishes itself from the Normale through its specialisation in applied sciences: engineering, biorobotics, medicine, economics, law and political science.
Sant'Anna's BioRobotics Institute is one of the world's most advanced biomedical robotics centres, with pioneering research in exoskeletons, mind-controlled bionic prostheses, robotic surgery and neurorehabilitation. Collaboration with companies such as Össur, Ottobock and leading global medical centres has produced real clinical applications. The Social Sciences Class — covering economics, management, law and political science — is another area of international excellence, with graduates reaching top positions in European and international institutions.
Sant'Anna has two campuses: the Palazzo Maffi, a historic Baroque building in central Pisa hosting the Social Sciences Class, and the Miracles Campus for experimental sciences. With 35% international students in doctoral programmes and structural connections with MIT, CERN, Caltech and leading European institutions, Sant'Anna is the world's main reference for biorobotics.
Academic Classes
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna by the numbers
From 1987 to global biorobotics: Sant'Anna and applied excellence in the digital age
The Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna was founded in 1987 as the twin school of the Scuola Normale Superiore, with the mission of training excellence in applied sciences — engineering, medicine, economics and political science — that the Normale, traditionally oriented towards pure sciences and humanities, did not cover. The name honours Saint Anne, patron of Pisa.
During the 1990s and 2000s Sant'Anna built an exceptional international reputation in biorobotics, with Professor Paolo Dario — founder of the BioRobotics Institute — and collaborators developing some of the world's most advanced prostheses and exoskeletons. The 1993 launch of ARTS (Advanced Robotics Technology and Systems) marked the beginning of a world-class robotics research tradition.
Today Sant'Anna is globally recognised for biorobotics — with the VariLeg exoskeleton and bionic hands connected directly to the nervous system of amputee patients — and for applied social science training. Its graduates hold leadership positions in institutions such as the European Parliament, the European Commission, the World Bank and leading multinationals.
FAQ — Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna di Pisa
Applied excellence in Italy: useful resources
The Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa is the absolute pinnacle of Italian applied excellence — the choice for those wishing to study biorobotics, European law and political science at Italy's most selective school. For Italian universities and everything about living and studying in Italy.
