13/01/2024
Welcoming almost 60,000 international students per year, Italy is a European hotspot for international study. Italian universities have two intakes per year, the autumn intake and the winter intake. If you’re part of the autumn intake, you’ll start your degree in September or October.
If you’d rather start your Masters at the beginning of a calendar year, you can opt for the winter intake.
Key features of autumn intake in Italy
Application start time December (the year before your course starts)
Application end time May to June
Acceptance letters January to August
Term dates September to October start
The autumn intake
If you’re part of the autumn intake at an Italian university, you’ll probably start your course between mid-September and early October. The autumn intake is the most popular, with the biggest variety of courses available for this start date..
Italian universities often accept applications in a series of rounds. Each application window will usually last around 5-6 weeks.
Deadlines will vary widely between institutions, so it’s important to check your chosen university’s website to find out when you should apply. The first application round may open as early as the December before your start date, and close in January. The last round will generally open in May and close in June.
If your university accepts applications in rounds, it’s important that you check which round you are eligible for. For example, you may need to apply in an early round to be considered for a particular scholarship.
Non-EU students will likely need to apply in an earlier round because they are required to undergo an additional pre-enrolment stage. Later rounds are often reserved for EU and Italian students. This means that the latest deadline for non-EU students is likely to be in around March or April.
You can generally expect to hear back between four and six weeks after submitting your application.
