Ancona, un ateneo per dottori di ricerca in economia politica

The paper describes the main steps of the 30-year history of the Ph.D program in Economics offered by the Faculty of Economics at Universita Politecnica delle Marche. It outlines the main features and occupational patterns of the Ph.D holders who have been awarded their doctoral title in Ancona. Compared to the poor performance of tertiary education in Italy, the Ph.D program in Economics at Universita Politecnica delle Marche represents a successful experience. Since its foundation, in fact, it has always been characterized by a precursory approach and by a remarkable international vocation. Specifically, among its most distinguishing features, the following aspects could be highlighted: the openness, both national and international - as for both students' selection and professional careers; a well-structured educational proposal; a sound orientation to research; a consistent use of resources { material and financial. As a consequence, doctoral graduates in Economics at Ancona outperform in terms of occupational profiles and satisfaction compared to their national peers. As data source, we adopt information about the Ph.D holders who were awarded their title from the Universita Politecnica delle Marche recorded over the 30-year history of the Ph.D program. Comparison with evidence at the national level and further analysis have been proposed by elaborating data from the first survey conducted by Istat on professional outcomes of Ph.D graduates (2009).