Choosing a university: patience, just patience!
Unlike other European countries, admission to Italian universities is a lengthy and complicated procedure. Therefore, those who plan to go there will have to be patient and figure out the various nuances.
First, it is not possible to go abroad immediately after graduating from a Ukrainian school – our applicants must study in their home country for 12 years. Therefore, after school, they will have to study for one or two years at a Ukrainian university in the same specialty that the future student plans to continue abroad, or in a related one. However, there are exceptions: some Italian private educational institutions are ready to accept our applicants right after graduation from school. But in this case, one must be prepared to arrange a guarantee in Italy, since our graduates finish school before the age of 18. Second, admission to all state and some private universities goes through the Consular Chancellery of the Italian Embassy (you cannot submit documents directly to the university), and you can only apply to one university in this way.
By the way, useful websites on the Internet can help you find a suitable place to study. One of them is www.study-in-italy.it. Here, in the Course Search section, there is a built-in search engine. Using it, you can find a university and a program by city, university name, specialty, and degree. The website www.studyineurope.eu/study-in-italy has information about the admission procedure and a list of all universities with links to their official pages.
Also useful is the website of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (www.esteri.it, Foreigners section): here are posted last year's admission rules for foreigners, a list of contacts of university offices for foreign affairs, websites of campuses and university residences (dormitories). Also the website www.topuniversities.com/country-guides/italy – the page of the international QS university ranking. Here there are educational guides for different countries of the world, including Italy, with brief information about each of them.
Paperwork
Once the university is chosen, you can prepare the necessary documents. It is advisable to start doing this a few months before admission, because it all takes a lot of time. And you need to submit for admission: the original certificate with its supplement with an apostille from the Ministry of Education, an academic transcript from the university with grades or diplomas (if any), copies of these documents and their certified translation into Italian. By the way, documents can be translated either by registered translators, whose list is on the bulletin board at the embassy (then the translations must be certified at the Consular Chancellery), or at any other translation agency (in this case, the translation must have an apostille from the Ministry of Education and Science). Also need to submit photographs, an application form (filled out on site), and, if available, a certificate of Italian language proficiency.
As already mentioned above, all these documents are submitted to the Consular Chancellery, and this must be done in April-May (the submission deadlines need to be monitored on the website of the Italian Embassy or on the website of the Italian Ministry of Education, because they depend on the date of publication of ministerial regulations that describe the rules for admitting foreigners). There, they are processed, a declaration of conformity of diplomas is drawn up (thanks to this document, the Italian university understands what education the applicant received) and a covering letter is composed.
Then information about potential students is sent to Italy, and the package of documents is returned so that they themselves send it to the university. This entire procedure is called pre-registration at the university. Applicants find out its results at the beginning of August. And if everything is good, they receive an invitation to an Italian language exam or other entrance tests.
In some cases, this entire complicated procedure can be avoided. There are private universities that accept documents directly from foreign students. Moreover, some of them do not require an apostille, and it is enough to simply submit a translation of the documents into Italian. However, despite this, applicants should not delay the document submission process, because sometimes private universities stop enrollment if the group is full.
Endurance tests
As a rule, foreign students are admitted to Italian universities based on documents and without entrance exams. Entrance tests will have to be taken only by those who plan to study in specialties where the number of applicants is limited. These are, for example, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, dentistry, law, engineering, architecture, and economics. Also, foreigners will have an Italian language exam.
But it can also be avoided. So, applicants who have international language certificates are exempt from it. For example, PLIDA, CELI, or CILS (all certificates are recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science in Italy). The first two certificates can be obtained in Ukraine. For example, you can register for PLIDA and take it at the Dante Alighieri Italian National Society (located in Kyiv and Odesa). It is held twice a year – at the end of November and at the end of May, costs 90-120 euros (for levels B2-C2) and consists of four parts (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), for each of which you need to score at least 18 out of 30.
And to be admitted to the university, you need to confirm language proficiency at level B2 or C1. As for CELI, registration and taking it takes place at the Italian Institute of Culture, in Kyiv, in November, March, and June. This exam, like the previous one, consists of four parts, and costs 70 euros, regardless of the level the student intends to confirm (by the way, you need to confirm level B2 or C1).
If a foreign student plans to study in English, they need to take the TOEFL (registration and payment on the ets.org website, exam fee – $180) or IELTS (registration and payment at the British Council, fee – 1,550 UAH). Which certificate exactly is required by the Italian university is best clarified on its official website.
On average, a year of study at a state Italian university costs between 500 and 4,000 euros, and at a private university between 6,000 and 20,000 euros. There is also a so-called registration fee in Italian universities, paid at the beginning of the academic year: its amount ranges from 50 to 200 euros. Of course, not all students can pay for their education. But there is no need to be upset prematurely, because Italy has scholarship programs for foreigners.
Finding grants and discounts
Discounts and scholarships for studies can be provided by the universities themselves. For example, a discount can be obtained if the student truly cannot pay for their studies independently. To confirm this, you need to submit parents' income certificates to the university. The discount can range from 30% to 100%. Scholarships are given for good grades after the first semester or year of study. This information can be tracked either on the universities' pages (usually published there at the beginning of each semester) or on websites. For example, among similar Ukrainian sites – unistudy.org.ua and openstudy.org.ua (section 'Scholarships').
In addition to Italian universities, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also offers scholarships to foreigners (website). In our country, this scholarship program is administered by the Italian Embassy and the mentioned Italian Institute of Culture. It is intended for those who want to obtain higher education in this country, take Italian language courses, or conduct research in archives, cultural centers, museums, libraries, etc.
The competition for this scholarship starts annually in April. All necessary documents (a completed application form, CV, recommendation and motivation letters, documents of previous education, Italian language certificate, etc.) must be submitted by May. The list of winners is usually announced in June. The lucky ones (usually up to 20 people) receive 620 euros per month, and the scholarship is for 3-9 months. Also, under the scholarship program, students are reimbursed for medical insurance.
There is another scholarship opportunity for foreigners – the EU student mobility program Erasmus Mundus, in which many Italian universities participate. Under it, while studying at a particular Italian university, you can go to study for a semester or a year at another European university, receiving a monthly scholarship of about 1,000 euros. However, this requires good academic performance and passing a competitive selection.
Six reasons to go to Italy
1. Education in Italy is cheaper than in other European countries (e.g., the UK). At the same time, the quality of education is high, and the diploma is recognized in all EU countries.
2. Good academic performance can earn you a scholarship.
3. Student mobility is well developed: you can go to study at another European university for free.
4. Foreign students have the right to work up to 20 hours per week. Conveniently, this can be done on campus, for example, in the library, admissions office, etc.
5. Foreigners receive a residence permit after a couple of months, which allows them to move freely within the EU.
6. You are not expelled for failing exams. Moreover, you can carry them over from one semester to another. Also, besides the winter and summer exam sessions, there is an autumn session. So you can lighten your load.
Six reasons not to go to Italy
1. The paperwork and admission process to state and some private universities is complex and lengthy. Moreover, you can only apply to one institution.
2. State universities have a quota for foreigners. It can range from 3 to 25 people per faculty.
3. Not all Italian universities provide dormitory rooms for foreigners, so you need to find accommodation on your own.
4. During your studies, you will have to buy textbooks, which are expensive. For example, the price of one can reach 30 euros.
5. The main focus in studying is on independent work. Therefore, those with poor self-organization find it hard to study.
6. After graduating from university, it is difficult to find a job.
For assistance in preparing the material, we thank the head of the education department of the educational agency Infostudy Lyudmila Chaban, the head of the education department of the educational agency 'Aspekt' Kristina Nesen, the Italian Institute of Culture, and the Embassy of Italy in Ukraine.
Lyudmila KOLB,
'Segodnya'.