Students clearly represent a vital resource for science at TIGEM by stimulating the quality of research and by contributing to the formation of an inspiring scientific environment.

Graduate students may join TIGEM by way of four different programmes: two international programmes (The Open University-OU, the European School of Molecular Medicine-SEMM), and two national programmes (the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II-UNINA, the Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli-SUN).

The graduate programmes are designed for self-motivated science graduates and medical doctors wishing to become scholars in the medical sciences with the goal to prepare doctoral students for research careers in human genetics (OU), functional genomics and molecular medicine (SEMM), computational biology and bioinformatics (UNINA), or medical genetics (SUN).

The graduate programmes organized by the Institute are based on an official agreement between TIGEM and the universities of enrollment. For all graduate programmes, TIGEM functions as sponsoring establishment, providing students enrolled in the programme with laboratory space, facilities, resources, and educational activities. The university of enrollment, instead, represents the Research School and awarding body, conferring the student with the final (UK or Italian) PhD title.

There are currently 40 PhD students enrolled at TIGEM, while 68 have successfully completed their graduate studies since the beginning of the programmes.

The establishment of international programmes at TIGEM is of great value because they enhance the dimension of the Institute abroad, with the recruitment of talented students also from outside Italy and by facilitating the opportunity for TIGEM researchers and students to interact and collaborate with foreign laboratories. Notwithstanding, TIGEM also collaborates with local universities (the Università degli Studi di Salerno-UNISA) to promote additional graduate training for Italian students.