Italy

"Free tuition in Italy" is a half-truth

Italian public universities genuinely charge on a progressive scale tied to family income. Ministry of Universities and Research Decree no. 1014 of 03/08/2021 established the "no tax area" — full exemption below an ISEE of €22,000 — and many universities extend partial relief up to €30,000.

That is also where the trap sits. To obtain relief, an international student must correctly file an ISEE parificato — an Italian income assessment built from foreign documents, legalised and submitted by hard deadlines. If no ISEE is filed, the university automatically places the student in the top fee bracket.

Rules also differ by university: Politecnico di Milano states plainly that the ISEEU parificato sets your fee bracket but is not valid for applying for full or partial exemption, while Sapienza permits an ISEE declaration only for students with Italian income. This must be checked per university, not from general articles.

Scholarships: two layers

At national level, MAECI scholarships from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are worth €10,800, paid in three instalments, and applied for exclusively through the studyinitaly.esteri.it portal. An important caveat: we could not confirm whether Russia and CIS states appear on the eligible-country list for the current call — this must be checked against the official announcement.

At regional level, DSU (the right to study) is in practice the larger opportunity. Run by regional agencies, it includes a cash grant, student canteen access, subsidised accommodation and fee exemption, and international students are eligible. There is no single national deadline — each region sets its own, and missing it forfeits the largest part of the support.

Language, visa and timing

The English-taught offer is large and growing, especially at master's level: the University of Bologna, for instance, lists 115 international programmes for AY2025/26, of which 92 are entirely in English. Italian-taught programmes require certified Italian.

The visa is a national long-stay type D for study. A mandatory step before the consular application is pre-enrolment on the Universitaly portal. Within 8 working days of arrival you must apply for the residence permit (permesso di soggiorno per studio).

Separately: Italy is in the Schengen area, and the visa process for Russian citizens has become stricter and slower since the suspension of the visa facilitation agreement. Study visas are still issued, but the current procedure should be confirmed directly with the consulate.

UNIPROFI in Italy

We are launching the Italy direction, and here our core value is especially clear: almost all of the financial upside in Italy depends on income documentation being prepared correctly and on time, rather than on admission itself.

Write to us if you are considering Italy — we will tell you where this direction stands and how we can help today.