Doctoral courses (in geotechnical engineering): What has been changing in Italy in the last 30 years

Doctoral schools in Italy began on middle 80s. Since that the objectives and fundamental rules for the third level of Higher Education in Italy changed several times. The paper shows the legislative evolution and reports, in a narrative way, the experience of 5 Ph. D. in Geotechnical Engineering over a period of 30 years (from 1987 to 2017). The narration focuses on general rules, availability of grants, tutorage and evaluation board, pointing out positive and negative aspects of the many changes occurred over 30 years. Ph. D. Courses in Italy are regulated by National Laws approved by the Parliament. The main conclusions can be summarized as follows: a) the recently introduced requirement of educational credits acquisition did not change the spirit of Doctoral studies that are mainly oriented to strength the students' research skills; b) based on the Authors' experiences it is strongly advised to promote Doctoral Schools restricted to specific subject areas in which the teaching staff and the members of the Council belong from different institutions (Consortia); c) Bilateral Agreements for double or multiple degrees are really encouraged.