The Departments of Excellence are an innovative and financially supportive intervention, provided for by Law 232 of 2016 (Budget Law 2017), which aims to identify and finance the best 180 Departments of State Universities every five years and within the 14 CUN areas. These departments stand out both for the quality of the research they produce and for the quality of their development projects, to which an annual budget of 271 million euros is allocated.

The selection phases of this process are as follows:

• on the basis of the standardised departmental performance indicator (ISPD) defined by ANVUR at the request of the MIUR, a provisional ranking of the 350 best departments of the public universities will be established;

• Within this ranking, each university may submit a five-year departmental development project for a maximum of 15 departments, accompanied by a financial programme;

• The financial programme includes staff recruitment, staff rewards, research infrastructure and high quality teaching and research activities;

• The project will be evaluated by a commission of seven members, appointed by decree of the Minister, two of whom will be appointed by the Minister (including the President), one appointed by the President of the Council of Ministers, and four appointed by the Minister from two lists of three members each appointed by ANVUR and the National Committee of Research Guarantors (CNGR);

• the Commission, by combining the ISPD score (maximum 70 points) and the evaluation of the projects (maximum 30 points), draws up a final ranking of the 180 departments of excellence, also taking into account the maximum number of departments eligible for funding for each of the 14 CUN areas (set by the Minister himself in the decree appointing the Commission).

Depending on the size quintile in which they are located, the 180 selected departments will be able to count on a budget ranging from 1,620 million euros per year to 1,080 million euros per year for five years. Departments in CUN areas 1 to 9 will receive a budget of 250,000 euros per year linked to research infrastructures. The achievement of the departmental project objectives and the correct use of the allocated budget will be subject to a final evaluation.

The Department of Design of the Politecnico di Milano is, for the second time, the Winner of the Departments of Excellence for the five-year period 2023 - 2027.