Sapienza University of Rome: admission for international applicants

Sapienza University of Rome admits applicants from abroad to its English-taught bachelor's through a MoveIn pre-selection, then the call for applications of each programme, and for 2026-2027, the latest published cycle, the pre-selection deadline was May 15, 2026 for non-EU visa applicants and July 31, 2026 for EU and EU-equivalent candidates. Sapienza has not yet published the 2027-2028 cycle; its admission pages name only 2026-2027.

On Sapienza's 2026-2027 admissions page, the latest published, a bachelor's applicant needs a high school diploma earned after at least 12 years of studies and at least an upper-intermediate knowledge of English or Italian (B2 level) depending on the programme, and some programmes, such as Medicine and Surgery, add a mandatory admission test. Full tuition for bachelor's and master's programmes is € 300-1500/year, according to your country of residence.

Sapienza calls pre-selection only one of the necessary steps: you then follow the International Student Office page and your programme's call for applications in the Course catalogue, which Sapienza publishes not before late June, and final admission depends on all the steps, some of which Sapienza does not control.

Rules that catch applicants out

• Non-EU visa applicants faced an earlier pre-selection deadline than EU candidates in 2026-2027: May 15, 2026 against July 31, 2026.
• You may apply for a maximum of 2 programmes per academic year, and each application costs €30, with no fee waiver under any circumstances.
• A positive pre-selection outcome does not guarantee enrolment, and if you are enrolled pending documents on a restricted-access course, Sapienza declares the enrolment null and void if final checks show you lack the minimum requirements.
• If you are a non-EU citizen who needs a visa and you enrol with reservation, Sapienza cancels the enrolment unless you present the required documents by June of the year after your application ("entro il mese di giugno dell'anno successivo").

Which cycle is published

Sapienza's pre-selection deadlines and International Student Office instructions are labelled for A.Y. 2026-2027. The only mention of 2027-2028 in the bachelor's calls is a consequence of the OFA, the additional learning requirement: if you do not pass it, you repeat the first year and cannot take later-year exams starting from the 2027-2028 academic year. Plan with the 2026-2027 dates as the pattern and check for the 2027-2028 pre-selection opening.

Sapienza University of Rome was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII and offers more than 300 bachelor's and master's degree programmes, many taught in English, according to its pages as of October 2026. On its own rankings news page Sapienza reports 111ª place in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2027; that position is the university's own claim.

Sapienza's history page says that in the same year Boniface VIII issued the bull In suprema praeminentia dignitatis founding the Studium Urbis, the University of Rome. In December 2020 Sapienza elected Antonella Polimeni, the first woman rector in over 700 years of its history, and Sapienza's English brochure calls it the largest public university in Europe.

Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, Rome, seen from its courtyard

Size and campuses

Sapienza says it offers more than 300 bachelor's and master's programmes and around 90 doctoral programmes. Sapienza does not publish a student or staff count in text on its English pages. Its main campus sits a few steps from Rome's central Termini station, with several other seats in the capital and branches across Lazio; its Facts and Figures leaflet names Latina and Rieti as its other campuses.

Rankings Sapienza cites

Sapienza's rankings news page, in Italian, lists the results below with the edition of each ranking. Sapienza's own pages do not show the publishers' tables, and they give no U.S. News position.

In Italian figures the point separates thousands, so 21.291 institutions means twenty-one thousand two hundred ninety-one. In subject tables, Sapienza reports first place in the world for Classics and Ancient History in the QS rankings by subject 2026, with Archaeology and History of Art at 7 each and Physics and Astronomy at 38.

Sapienza also reports, from the Shanghai subject rankings 2026, Aerospace Engineering at 20° and Physics at 29°, and from THE by subject 2026, first place in Italy and 33esimo in the world for Arts and Humanities for the second year running. These are the university's own summaries of each publisher's table.

Sapienza's restricted-access English-taught programmes split their places between EU (and equivalent) applicants and non-EU citizens resident abroad: in the 2026-2027 calls, the latest published, Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence offered UE 120 and Non-UE 60 places, and Medicine and Surgery 'F' 52 EU and 13 non-EU places. Sapienza does not publish applications, admits or an admit rate for its bachelor's programmes.

In Sapienza's calls, EU places are for Italian citizens, citizens of other EU countries and non-EU citizens who hold a valid residence permit in Italy. Non-EU places are for citizens of a non-EU country who reside permanently abroad and require an entry visa for study purposes. Which column you compete in depends on that status, not on where you went to school.

Two programmes carry no place figures in the calls cited here. The Nursing call for 2026-2027 says the final available places will be published in the course catalogue after the ministerial decree on the allocation of places. In the Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence call, the second selection round is for the EU quota only, with candidates moving up the ranking list.

How the selections show competition

Sapienza ranks the two quotas separately. In the Molecular Biology call for Latina, two selections are provided, the first for the non-EU quota and the second for the EU quota. For Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, Sapienza announces the actual number of vacancies for the second round on a date set in its procedure calendar.

Sapienza does not publish the number of applications, admitted students or an admit rate for any bachelor's programme or for international applicants, so the places in each call are the only published measure of size.

Open access with a knowledge test, or restricted access

Sapienza's course catalogue lists an admission test for restricted-access programmes (accesso programmato) such as Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, and an entrance test to verify knowledge (verifica delle conoscenze) for programmes such as Global Humanities. In the 2026-2027 calls, Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology (Latina) are restricted access, while Sustainable Building Engineering in Rieti and the Faculty of Economics bachelor's use a knowledge verification test, set by the Economics call for 2026-2027. For the three-year Engineering programmes with restricted access, selection is based on the score obtained in the TOLC-I.

Sapienza's pre-selection is an online application on the MoveIn platform that assesses you before the official call for applications is published, for most English-taught bachelor's and master's programmes that do not require an in-person admission test; in the 2026-2027 cycle, the latest published, it cost € 30 per application, for a maximum of 2 programmes per academic year. A positive outcome does not guarantee enrolment.

Sapienza runs pre-selection at sapienza.gomovein.com. On its 2026-2027 admissions page it says pre-selection is available for most English-taught programmes without an in-person admission test and for a limited number of Italian-taught programmes. The International Student Office page makes the resulting pre-acceptance letter mandatory for all non-EU citizens residing abroad, who need it for Universitaly pre-enrolment and the study visa, and optional for EU citizens, wherever they live, and for non-EU citizens legally residing in Italy.

Bachelor's programmes with MoveIn pre-selection

Sapienza's MoveIn academic requirements document for the academic year 2026-2027 lists these bachelor's programmes:

• BSc Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
• BSc Bioinformatics
• BSc Business Sciences
• BSc Economics and Finance
• BA Classics
• BA Global Humanities
• BSc Molecular Biology, Medicinal Chemistry and Computer Science for Pharmaceutical Applications
• BSc Sustainable Building Engineering

The same document warns that meeting the academic and language requirements is not a guarantee of admission: Sapienza assesses each application individually on elements such as your CV, academic performance, previous studies and motivation. Sapienza also states that it does not cooperate with any agency and issues pre-acceptance letters only through the MoveIn portal.

Documents, fee and the two-application limit

Sapienza's application fee guide tells you not to submit or pay for a third application once you have sent 2: the fees cannot be refunded and all additional applications are rejected.

After pre-selection: Infostud, the call and the checks

After a positive pre-selection outcome you register on Infostud to obtain a student ID number (matricola) and download your pre-acceptance letter. Sapienza's International Student Office page says a positive outcome does not guarantee enrolment: you must still complete all steps of your programme's call for applications, including any ranking, and submit the mandatory documents.

Sapienza adds that enrolment is not possible for candidates who do not meet the minimum requirements, even if they have been pre-selected. Treat the pre-acceptance letter as the key to the visa procedure and the call, not as an offer of a place.

Each English-taught bachelor's on Sapienza's MoveIn list asks for an entry test, and in the 2026-2027 MoveIn requirements, the latest published, most accept either the SAT or a CISIA test: for Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence the SAT must be higher than 960/1600 and taken after January 1st, 2024, while Bioinformatics lists only the CEnT-S.

Sapienza's international admissions page says some programmes require a mandatory admission test, Medicine and Surgery among them, covered in the Medicine chapter. The table sums up the tests the MoveIn academic requirements document for the academic year 2026-2027 accepts for each English-taught bachelor's.

For EU citizens on Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Italian route is TOLC-I in Italian plus an English section, 18 out of 50 + 24 out of 30, or TOLC-S at 18 out of 55 + 24 out of 30, taken after July 1st, 2024. The SAT rule for that programme applies to EU and non-EU citizens alike.

SAT scores and dates

The SAT cut-off differs by programme and some programmes set only a date. Economics and Finance asks for 960 or higher, Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence for higher than 960/1600, and Molecular Biology only for a converted score higher than zero from 1st of January 2025. Classics (from 1st of January 2023) and Global Humanities (from 1st of January 2021) set an earliest date and no minimum in the MoveIn document.

CEnT-S, TOLC and the English Test HUM

The CEnT-S is the CISIA English Test-Sciences; Sapienza's entry-test guide says you can choose a CEnT date held by any university, even one different from the university you apply to. For the English Test HUM@CASA you register on Infostud and pay a fee. In the 2026 sessions, which ran February 2026 to October 2026 and all of which have passed, the fee for this humanities test (Classics and Global Humanities) was €45.00; no fee for later sessions is published yet. Each opening had a capped number of candidates.

The last 2026 opening ran From 9 to 30 September 2026 for a test on 8 October 2026 (2:30 pm); it has passed. The Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence call also charged a selection fee of € 10,00, ten euros in English notation.

Minimum scores and OFA

The Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence call for 2026-2027 sets a minimum admission score of 36/100. For Bioinformatics the two documents differ: the call asks for a CEnT-S total score of over 18 and ranks only candidates with more than 18, while the MoveIn requirements document asks for a converted score higher than zero, so aim for the call's figure.

On Global Humanities, scores below 960/1600 in the SAT, 12/30 in the English Test HUM or 13/36 in the English TOLC-E bring Further Required Courses (OFA), extra learning requirements in your first year, rather than a rejection.

On the Business Sciences, Economics and Finance, Molecular Biology and Sustainable Building Engineering blocks, the MoveIn document notes that the English TOLC test is no longer accepted.

You apply to Sapienza in three moves: a MoveIn pre-selection application where your programme offers one, an Infostud account, and the call for applications of your programme in the Course catalogue. In the 2026-2027 cycle, the latest published, pre-selection opened on December 22, 2025 and closed on May 15, 2026 for visa-seeking candidates and July 31, 2026 for all others; Sapienza has not yet published 2027-2028 dates.

MoveIn, Infostud and the call

First, complete a pre-selection application on MoveIn if it is available for your programme; the Admission requirements document lists which ones. Second, create an account on Infostud, Sapienza's student services portal. Third, follow the International Student Office page and your programme's call for applications, which Sapienza publishes in the Course catalogue not before late June.

If you are a non-EU citizen living abroad, you also finalise and submit the Universitaly pre-enrolment for your study visa; for 2026-2027 the deadline was June 30, 2026, at 23:59 (Italian time). Each programme's call then sets its own selection, ranking and enrolment dates.

Dated steps in the 2026-2027 cycle: an example call

The Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence call for the academic year 2026-2027 shows how a restricted-access call runs. Other calls have their own calendars, so read your programme's call when it appears.

The only reference to 2027-2028 in that call is about the OFA: if you do not pass your additional learning requirement, you cannot take exams beyond the first year starting from the 2027-2028 academic year. It is not an application date for 2027-2028 entry.

Documents at enrolment

Sapienza's International Student Office asks you to send all mandatory documents by email to studentistranieri@uniroma1.it, merged into a single PDF file, in an online preliminary procedure. Hello - International Student Office then schedules in-person appointments to verify the documents and confirm their authenticity against the originals.

• Identity document: a valid passport, or an identity card for EU citizens only.
• Study visa: a "University Enrolment" visa issued by the Italian embassy or consulate in your country of residence, if you need one.
• High school diploma: obtained after at least 12 years of schooling and granting access to first-level university degrees in the country that issued it.

In the Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence call for 2026-2027, enrolment became final on payment of the first instalment of fees for that year plus a stamp duty of € 16,00 and the regional tax; in English notation, sixteen euros.

Application and test fees

The MoveIn pre-selection costs € 30 per submitted application, paid before you submit. Calls such as Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in 2026-2027 add a selection fee of € 10,00, and the English Test HUM@CASA charged €45.00 after Infostud registration in the 2026 sessions, which have passed. Since March 1, 2021, Sapienza takes all bachelor's and master's payments through the PagoPA system; CISIA sets its own test fees.

Sapienza treats you as a non-EU applicant residing abroad if you hold no EU or equivalent citizenship and no qualifying Italian residence status, and you then need the Universitaly pre-enrolment for your study visa. In the 2026-2027 cycle, the latest published, it had to be finalised and submitted by June 30, 2026, at 23:59 (Italian time); Sapienza has not yet published 2027-2028 dates.

Who counts as a non-EU applicant abroad

Sapienza's International Student Office sorts applicants into two procedures. You follow the EU procedure if you are a citizen of an EU Member State or of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, San Marino, or Vatican City. If you hold dual citizenship and one is Italian or from another EU country, EU citizenship prevails under Law 218/1995.

A non-EU citizen living in Italy follows the same EU procedure in two cases. The first is holding an Italian residence permit for long-term EU stay, for subordinate work or self-employment, or for family reasons; the page's list continues beyond these three. The second is being a legal resident in Italy for at least one year while holding an Italian upper secondary school qualification. Every other applicant follows the procedure for "Non-EU Citizens residing abroad and requiring a Study Visa".

The Universitaly pre-enrolment and proof of funds

Online pre-enrolment on the Universitaly portal is mandatory for all non-EU students residing abroad who require a study visa to enter Italy and enrol at Sapienza. During the application you select the Italian Embassy or Consulate in your country of residence. For the 2026-2027 cycle the deadline was June 30, 2026, at 23:59 (Italian time).

For restricted-access courses (numerus clausus), your Universitaly application is validated only if you are among the winners in the official ranking. Even a validated pre-enrolment guarantees neither the study visa, which is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Italian Diplomatic Missions, nor university enrolment.

For the first residence permit, the application kit includes documents proving financial means (means of livelihood) in Italy. Sapienza does not publish an amount on the pages that mention this requirement.

What non-EU applicants could still apply to after pre-selection

In the 2026-2027 cycle, between 15 May and the end of June 2026, non-EU candidates could only apply for programmes taught in Italian, following the calls in the Course catalogue. Restricted-access programmes keep a specific quota of reserved places for non-EU students residing abroad, so your competition there is the non-EU quota, not the EU one.

Enrolment with reservation, withdrawal and transfers

• Documents: if you are a non-EU citizen who needs a visa and you enrol with reservation, Sapienza's Italian-language page says your enrolment is cancelled if you do not present the required documents by the end of June of the year after your application.
• Visa: if Sapienza cannot complete the enrolment of an international student because requirements are missing, it notifies the relevant Diplomatic Mission for the immediate cancellation of the entry visa.
• Withdrawal: if you hold a study residence permit and withdraw your enrolment at Sapienza or another university, you lose the requirements for residence in Italy. The page, written for 2026-2027, adds that to re-enrol you must wait for the next academic year 2027-2028, return to your country of origin and redo the Universitaly pre-enrolment.
• Transfers: if you move to Sapienza from another Italian university with a valid study residence permit, do not withdraw from your current university (rinuncia agli studi); follow the transfer procedure instead.

Sapienza asks every student for at least B2 in English or in Italian, depending on the programme, and the certificate scores differ from one English-taught programme to the next. On Sapienza's 2026-2027 pages, the latest published, Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence sets IELTS 5.5 out of 9 and Sustainable Building Engineering sets TOEFL iBT 80; Sapienza has not yet published 2027-2028 rules.

English certificates by programme

Sapienza's English language requirements document lists FCE, IELTS (academic), TOEFL iBT, CAE, CPE, PTE General Level 3 and PTE Academic as accepted tests. The minimum score is not one number for the whole university: each programme's call or MoveIn requirements document sets its own, so read the row for your programme.

For the English-language programmes in Business, the 2026-2027 call asks for an English certificate of at least B2 level from a recognised body and currently valid. Global Humanities applicants send the B2 certification, a vulnerability status or proof of an English academic career to globalhumanities.sapienza@uniroma1.it by 29 October 2026.

The CEnT-S entry test is itself taught in English. The Bioinformatics call says taking it, including the @CASA option, requires at least a B2 level of English.

Who is exempt from the English certificate

According to Sapienza's English requirements document as of October 2026, the requirements are waived for candidates holding an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, a General Certificate of Education (GCE), or an English-taught diploma or degree from an accredited institution in the EU, EEA or Schengen area, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States. The requirement is completely waived only for schooling with English as the primary medium of instruction in six countries: United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Programme calls repeat and adjust those exemptions. The Bioinformatics requirements exempt native English speakers and holders of an English-taught diploma or degree from an accredited institution in the listed countries. The Sustainable Building Engineering call also exempts native English speakers, IB Diploma or GCE holders, and the English-language Business programmes add native speakers and English-taught school diplomas or degrees.

Italian for Italian-taught programmes

The Italian language test ITA L2 is mandatory and reserved for non-EU citizens residing abroad who require a study visa for a degree course taught in Italian. For the academic year 2026-2027 it certifies B2 proficiency, is organised by CISIA and is held online in the @CASA format.

According to Sapienza's pages as of October 2026, non-EU citizens residing abroad enrolling in Italian-taught courses must submit a B2 level certificate issued by CLIQ institutions or, alternatively, pass the Sapienza/CISIA L-2 Italian language test with a minimum B2 grade; applicants requiring a visa need at least a certified B2 level of proficiency in Italian.

You are exempt from the Italian test if you are an EU citizen, a non-EU citizen legally residing in Italy, or a dual citizen with one EU citizenship; if you enrol in a degree programme entirely taught in English; or if you hold a CLIQ proficiency certificate (B2 level or higher). For the academic year 2026/2027, Sapienza accepts CLIQ certificates issued after January 1st, 2022.

For a Sapienza bachelor's you need a high school diploma obtained after at least 12 years of schooling that grants access to first-level university degrees in the country that issued it. If your system has fewer years, Sapienza asks for completed university years or a related post-secondary qualification, and the documents you send depend on whether your country is in the ARDI database.

The 12-year rule and what compensates for fewer years

Sapienza's admission requirements page states the rule for the High School Diploma: it must be obtained after at least 12 years of schooling and grant access to first-level university degrees in the country of issuance. If your diploma was obtained after fewer years, you must provide proof that fills the gap. The Universitaly mandatory-documents list repeats it: at least 12 years of schooling.

If you hold an Italian citizenship and a foreign diploma, the foreign diploma gives access to Italian universities only if it was awarded after at least the last two years of successful attendance within the foreign education system. Sapienza accepts Foundation Year certificates only when issued by Higher Education Institutions accredited by the relevant Ministry, and compensation years cannot be used for course shortening (credit transfer).

Which documents you present

The documents depend on whether your country is listed in the ARDI Automatic Recognition Database. In both groups you present the original diploma with an official sworn translation into Italian or English. A qualification originally issued in English does not need a sworn translation into Italian.

• Countries listed in ARDI: the Statement of Correspondence downloadable from ARDI, plus a Statement of Verification issued by CIMEA or, alternatively, a legalisation or Apostille on both the original and the translated versions.
• Countries not listed in ARDI: a Statement of Comparability and a Statement of Verification issued by CIMEA. The alternative to CIMEA is a Declaration of Value (DoV) issued by the competent Italian Diplomatic Mission, with a legalisation or Apostille on both the original and the translation.

All qualifications, original and sworn translation, must be legalised or Apostilled. A Declaration of Value must explicitly state the total years of schooling before university, including any compensation years, and that the diploma grants access to first-level university degrees in the country of issuance. If you hold CIMEA statements, send them separately as standalone PDF files, as downloaded from the CIMEA website, attached to the same email.

How Sapienza evaluates foreign qualifications

Sapienza evaluates foreign qualifications under Decree 270/2004 (Art. 6), Law 148/2002, which ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention, and the international practices shared by the ENIC and NARIC networks. The evaluation takes into account the authenticity of the documentation, the duration and workload of the programme, its level, nature and learning outcomes, and the academic rights it confers in the country of origin.

A substantial difference between your qualification and the equivalent Italian one can lead Sapienza to refuse the application. That precludes access to higher education in Italy or progression to the next academic cycle, even if you passed an admission test. If you hold a US High School Diploma or a UK qualification, Sapienza points you to Attachment 1 of the Ministerial Regulations.

The Sapienza Foundation Year

The Foundation Year is held in Italian and addresses international students who do not meet the minimum schooling requirements for enrolment at Italian universities. To apply you must hold a secondary school diploma obtained abroad after 11 years of schooling and have English at minimum B2 level or an equivalent.

On Sapienza's Foundation Year page, taking part in the admission procedure was conditioned, under penalty of exclusion, on paying a non-refundable participation fee of € 200,00 (two hundred euros) within 15/06/2026 (day/month/year). Classroom activities total 400 hours, with attendance mandatory for at least 75% of them. Students who complete the programme can apply to Bachelor's or single-cycle programmes at Sapienza without sitting the Italian language exam for non-EU students.

Sapienza publishes no separate grade for the IB Diploma, A Levels, the US High School Diploma, the Matura, the Abitur or the French baccalauréat: each must meet the general rule of at least 12 years of schooling and the document rules. The grade bar sits elsewhere: the English-taught bachelor's programmes on MoveIn each set a minimum GPA for pre-selection, from 60/100 to 80/100 in 2026-2027, the latest published.

IB, A Levels and the US high school diploma

Sapienza's MoveIn documents state entry rules per programme, not per school system. For the IB, the A Levels and the US High School Diploma, the qualification-specific rules in the documents cited here are the English-language waivers: an IB Diploma or a General Certificate of Education (GCE) waives the English certificate, and for a US High School Diploma or a UK qualification Sapienza points to Attachment 1 of the Ministerial Regulations. Each qualification still has to meet the general rules on years of schooling and documents.

An SAT score belongs to the programme's admission test, not to the diploma requirement; the earlier chapter on tests covers it.

Matura, Abitur, baccalauréat and the European Baccalaureate

A Polish Matura, a German Abitur or a French baccalauréat is judged like any foreign diploma: it must be obtained after at least 12 years of schooling and give access to first-level university degrees in the country that issued it, and the documents you send depend on whether your country is in the ARDI database.

If your system has fewer than 12 years of schooling, the compensation rules in the foreign diplomas chapter apply.

Minimum GPA by English-taught bachelor's

What Sapienza sets is a minimum GPA in the MoveIn pre-selection, programme by programme, in the 2026-2027 requirements, the latest published; 2027-2028 not yet published. It is a gate to enter the ranking, not the level of admitted students.

Sapienza admits to English-taught Medicine and Surgery "F" and Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics through a national admission test, held in person on 29 September 2026 in the 2026-2027 call, the latest published; 2027-2028 not yet published. That call offers Medicine and Surgery "F" 52 EU places and 13 non-EU places, and Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics 19 and 6.

English-taught Medicine and Dentistry: the admission test

The 2026-2027 call covers the restricted-access single-cycle Master's programmes taught in English: Medicine and Surgery, Medicine and Surgery "F" (class LM-41) and Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics (class LM-46). The call refers to "the admission test" and never names it; the test is run by MUR and Cineca. To access the programmes you register with Universitaly, apply for a study visa if you are a non-EU citizen residing abroad, pay the test participation fee on Universitaly, and take the test.

The test was held in person at Sapienza and at locations abroad listed in Annex 4. Its date moved: Sapienza's news page shows the English-taught Medicine and Surgery and Dentistry test moving from Wednesday, 30 September to Tuesday, September 29, 2026. Registration on Universitaly opened on 26 August 2026 and closed at 3 p.m. (GMT+2) on 9 September 2026. All of these dates have passed.

Test length, scoring and the ranking bar

The test lasts 100 minutes. MUR and Cineca assess it with 1.5 points for each correct answer, 0 for each unanswered one and -0.4 for each incorrect one.

A single national ranking is drawn up for candidates with citizenship in Italy, in EU countries, or in non-EU countries with a valid residence permit in Italy. If you are a citizen of Italy, of an EU country or of a non-EU country with a valid residence permit in Italy, you are eligible for the ranking with a final score of 20 or higher. If you are a citizen of a non-EU country and reside abroad, you are eligible with a final score higher than zero. Those figures are the call's eligibility bars, not the scores of the candidates who were admitted.

Nursing in English

The restricted-access three-year Nursing programme (class L/SNT1) has its own call for the 2026-2027 academic year. Sapienza's calendar sets the healthcare professions locally restricted admission test for the three-year programmes taught in English on Thursday, September 17, 2026, which has passed. The call says the final available places will be published in the course catalogue, and its assessment test is aimed at admission to the ranking list. The seat is Azienda Ospedaliera Sant'Andrea in Rome.

The Medicine and Surgery "F" and Dentistry calls name no teaching hospital in the pages Sapienza publishes for these programmes; they state only that the test is held at Sapienza and abroad.

Italian-taught Medicine and Dentistry: the open semester

Italian-taught Medicine and Surgery and Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics do not use that test. For 2026-2027 Sapienza says access to these single-cycle programmes is again governed by a selection system called "Semestre aperto" (open semester). The path set by MUR requires you to attend and pass three courses of 6 CFU each, 18 CFU in total: Chemistry and Biochemical Propaedeutics, Biology and Physics.

• Exams: the first sitting is on 10 December and the second on 11 January.
• Ranking: the national ranking has three sections; the first includes, in score order, those who passed 3 exams.

In the 2026-2027 catalogue, the latest published, Sapienza teaches bachelor's and single-cycle programmes entirely in English, from Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence to Medicine and Surgery "F", and runs further programmes with both an Italian and an English curriculum. Sapienza's own pages say it offers more than 300 Bachelor's and Master's programmes in all, many of them taught in English.

Faculty of Economics building, Sapienza University of Rome

Programmes taught entirely in English

The table below follows Sapienza's Course catalogue for 2026-2027 and the calls for applications, with the degree class, the programme code, the Faculty and the admission route. Restricted-access programmes use an admission test; the other English-taught bachelor's programmes use an entrance test to verify knowledge.

Sapienza's Programmes in English brochure lists the three-year bachelor's programmes and the single-cycle Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics and Medicine and Surgery, both of 6 years. Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology and Nursing also appear in the brochure's bachelor's list.

Programmes with an English curriculum next to an Italian one

These programmes are listed as taught in Italian and English in the catalogue, all with an entrance test to verify knowledge: Business Administration and Management (class L-18, code 34175), Economics and Finance (class L-33, code 34177) and Environmental Engineering for Sustainable Development at the Latina campus (class L-7, code 33472).

The degree programmes in Business Administration and Management and in Economics and Finance offer both an Italian-language and an English-language curriculum. The two English-taught programmes carry their own names: Business Sciences (class L-18) and Economics and Finance (class L-33). If you read "Business Sciences" elsewhere on this page, it is the English curriculum of the Business Administration and Management class.

Admission route and places

The restricted-access programmes publish places split between EU and equivalent applicants and non-EU applicants residing abroad. These are the figures in the 2026-2027 calls, the latest published.

• Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence: 120 EU places and 60 non-EU places abroad.
• Bioinformatics: 45 and 5.
• Molecular Biology, Medicinal Chemistry and Computer Science for Pharmaceutical Applications at Latina: two selections, the first for the non-EU quota and the second for the EU quota.
• Medicine and Surgery "F": 52 and 13; Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics: 19 and 6.
• Nursing: the final available places will be published in the course catalogue after the ministerial decree.

The pre-selection application on MoveIn, the tests and the minimum GPAs are covered in the admission chapters; Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing have their own chapter.

Catalogue size, double degrees and exchanges

Sapienza describes its offer as more than 300 Bachelor's and Master's programmes and around 90 doctoral programmes, according to its page as of October 2026. Sapienza does not give an exact count of bachelor's programmes for 2026-2027 in the text of those pages.

Sapienza also offers degree programmes leading to double, multiple and joint degrees with universities in Europe and beyond, with mobility periods. It is part of CIVIS, the European university alliance of 11 partners.

Sapienza does not publish a graduate employment rate or a graduate survey on its pages; what it publishes is a Career Service and, in its own news, QS indicators in which it places 122nd in the world for graduate career prospects. Those indicators are third-party context cited by Sapienza, not a measure of what its graduates earn or where they work.

What Sapienza publishes about graduate outcomes

Sapienza does not publish an employment rate, a further-study rate or a survey year for its graduates on the pages that describe admission, programmes and services. The closest figures are ranking indicators that Sapienza cites in its own news, which it attributes to QS.

The Career Service

Sapienza's Career Service serves students and graduates. Its Italian-language pages describe these services:

• Job and internship platforms run by the Career Service.
• Recruiting and placement events.
• A CV-check and cover letter service.
• Talenti in corso, a free programme of individual counselling (mentorship).
• The Employability Lab, described as a bridge to your professional future.

Professional opportunities and staying after graduation

Programme pages describe careers in general terms. The 2026-2027 description of the Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence bachelor's says its combination of perspectives provides a basis for a rapid career in the field and gives access to postgraduate programmes.

If you are a non-EU graduate, Sapienza's pages name a residence permit for job search (permesso di soggiorno per attesa occupazione) that you can request after graduation. The pages that name it do not state an amount of time or a salary outcome.

If you earn your income abroad and cannot file an Italian ISEE, Sapienza charges a fixed yearly contribution by country band: €300 in Band A, €700 in Band B, which includes Poland, and €1500 in Band C, which includes France and Germany. Students who can file an Italian ISEE pay a fee set by their own financial standing.

Income earned abroad: the fixed contribution by country

Sapienza's page on standard registration fee amounts, which does not name an academic year, says that if you earn income in foreign countries and therefore cannot submit the ISEE declaration for the right to university education, which concerns income earned in Italy, you pay a fixed contribution that depends on your country of origin. The page sorts countries into three bands by GDP adjusted to purchasing power parity.

On top of the contribution, the Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence call for 2026-2027 states that final enrolment is confirmed on payment of the first instalment plus a stamp duty of € 16,00 (sixteen euros) and the regional tax. The standard registration fee amounts page states a regional tax of €140 and a stamp duty of €16 for distance-learning programmes and the Uninettuno consortium; that scope is not a statement about on-campus bachelor's programmes.

If your programme requires a flat-rate contribution, you cannot pay based on your ISEE for the right to university education. That page also lists all-inclusive standard fees of €2,821 and €2,924 by Faculty group, but its introduction names second-level two-year, single-cycle and unified master's programmes, so do not read them as bachelor's fees.

Income in Italy: the ISEE model

For students who do not qualify for total exemptions, Sapienza applies, in the academic year 2026/2027, a model in which each student determines the fee by their own financial standing, measured by the ISEE for the right to university study. As an international student you can declare that ISEE only for income generated in Italy, calculated by a CAF, with no ISEE parificato.

Instalments, deadlines and late charges in 2026/2027

On Sapienza's fees page for the academic year 2026/2027 you pay in three instalments of 30% / 35% / 35%. The page sets the dates below for the late ISEE upload and the third instalment.

A penalty of €65 applies to late payments, and the amount doubles if the delay exceeds 60 calendar days.

Exemptions and reductions

Sapienza lists benefits, scholarships, prizes, an Exams Bonus and Honours Programmes for outstanding students; they are covered in the scholarships chapter.

Living costs and proof of funds

Sapienza does not publish a living-cost estimate or a proof-of-funds amount on its fee pages. For the residence permit you must show documents proving financial means (means of livelihood) in Italy.

Sapienza's pages list no merit scholarship dedicated to first-year international bachelor's applicants. The admissions page says students can apply for various scholarships awarded on academic merit and/or family income, and the biggest named award, "Wanted the best", is for Master's entrants: 85 two-year scholarships of € 3,000.00 per year in the 2026-2027 call, with a deadline of October 30, 2026.

What exists for first-year bachelor's students

Sapienza's admissions page for 2026-2027 says students can apply for various scholarships available at different levels, awarded on academic merit and/or family income. For merit, Sapienza rewards outstanding students with benefits, scholarships, prizes and more, including an Exams Bonus and Honours Programmes.

Two other lines are open to enrolled students. Sapienza describes the scholarship #100ragazzeSTEM as a new award for outstanding women in STEM, and the Polo Universitario Interateneo di Rieti scholarships as financial benefits for students enrolled in degree programmes on Sapienza's Rieti campus. Italian government grants for international students and Italian citizens living abroad are also listed.

DiSCo Lazio and the Borsista Disco fee

Disco Lazio, the Ente Regionale per il Diritto allo Studio e alla Conoscenza, is the regional agency in charge of scholarships and housing assignments. To be eligible for these benefits you must apply through a competitive selection process.

Sapienza's Italian-language fees page describes a benefit called "Borsista Disco": a fixed annual enrolment fee of only 30 euro, plus the regional tax (140 euro) and the stamp duty (16 euro). You qualify only if you hold the status "Vincitore" (winner) or "Idoneo" (eligible) in the Disco Lazio scholarship ranking. DiSCo's own amounts are published on its own site, not on Sapienza's pages.

Other aid Sapienza lists

• Care responsibilities: 100 scholarships for students with care responsibilities or in vulnerable circumstances.
• Rent and healthcare: a grant for rental and healthcare costs, with a new call published.
• Student collaboration: paid internships for students in years after the first; the grant is 1,295.00 euros, and the fee for support activities for students with disabilities and Specific Learning Difficulties is 1,500.00 euros tax-free.
• IUPALS, Italian Universities for Palestinian Students, is listed as a separate programme.

Aid for postgraduates only

Three items are not for bachelor's applicants. "Wanted the best" is for Master's entrants who hold a first degree from another Italian university. The International Post-degree Scholarship goes to Sapienza graduates of a Master's or single-cycle programme. International Thesis Scholarships for dissertations abroad are offered to students enrolled in degree programmes, so they start once you are enrolled.

Sapienza's student housing page does not promise a bed to every new student. It offers a housing intermediation service and a register of affiliated private residences, and its own Luca Serianni Residence has 240 beds, mainly for students of the School of Advanced Studies (SSAS). Residence places run by the Lazio region are won in a competitive selection through DiSCo Lazio.

Sapienza's own residences

The Luca Serianni Residence stands near the Main Campus, on Via del Castro Laurenziano. Building A offers 240 beds in double rooms, single rooms and single rooms for people with disabilities, each with a private bathroom. An external company manages the residence under a public tender.

The Serianni Residence is primarily intended for SSAS students, who are admitted through an annual public competition announced by the School of Advanced Studies itself. If you are not an SSAS student, Sapienza's residences page gives no separate allocation rule for you, so treat this residence as a possibility to ask about, not a plan.

The Via Palestro building sits between the Main Campus and Termini Station and will have single and double rooms. The Via Osoppo site is a former public transport depot that Sapienza acquired from the State Property Office, with a section of the Aurelian Walls. The Latina residence will occupy a wing of a courtyard building facing Via Ezio, in the compound that already houses the Faculty of Economics and Business.

Regional residences through DiSCo Lazio

Sapienza's housing page says the Lazio Region, through DiSCo, supports the right to education with measures dedicated to the most vulnerable students. If you are looking for a place in a university residence, the page tells you to check the calls and deadlines on the DiSCo website.

Sapienza's scholarships page describes DiSCo Lazio as the regional agency in charge of scholarships and housing assignments. To be eligible for these benefits, you must apply through a competitive selection process. Sapienza does not publish DiSCo's rent, bed numbers or deadlines, so read the current call on the DiSCo site before you plan around a place.

Private housing: the services Sapienza provides

Besides the services of DiSCo Lazio, Sapienza provides a housing intermediation service and a register of private residential facilities affiliated with the University. These services help students enrolled at Sapienza, students taking admission tests for Sapienza degree programmes, and international students on academic, cultural or educational exchange programmes.

The register is an updated list of residential facilities, hotels and merit-based colleges affiliated with Sapienza. Sapienza's housing pages publish no rent figures, so the register is where you start to compare real prices.

Sapienza has also produced the "Study and Live in Rome" guide with the Guardia di Finanza. It covers rental contracts and the protections that go with them, available tax benefits, and the services offered by the universities of Rome and by DiSCo Lazio. The guide is a PDF in Italian.

Sapienza welcomes international students through the HELLO welcome office, staffed by 100 Sapienza students from around the world who speak excellent English, and through an annual International Student Welcome Week, held from 22 September 2026 for students arriving in the first semester of 2026-2027. The main campus, the Città Universitaria, is described as a real city within the city in the heart of Rome, a short walk from Termini station.

The HELLO welcome office

Sapienza describes HELLO as the welcome point for all international students interested in joining the Sapienza community. It is a first-contact service that gives personalised information and sends you to the offices and services that fit your needs.

HELLO is staffed by 100 Sapienza students from around the world with excellent English. It offers detailed help on admission and enrolment procedures, degree programmes and university services, plus orientation and campus tours: guided visits inside the Città Universitaria, with orientation activities for groups of students from foreign schools or universities.

The HELLO desk is in the rooms under the portico of the Palazzo del Rettorato, and you do not need an appointment to get help in person. Sapienza's HELLO page also points international students to the pre-selection and Universitaly steps covered in the admission chapters.

International Student Welcome Week

Sapienza says the International Student Welcome Week is an event of welcome and orientation initiatives for all foreign students arriving at Sapienza in the first semester of the academic year 2026-2027. Its programme includes Faculty Days, one meeting per Faculty, with different times and rooms.

Because the two end dates differ by one day on the same page, treat the week as ending on one of the two days shown above. Sapienza has not published the dates of the next edition.

Services, sport and exchanges

• Wellbeing: Sapienza lists a reimbursement of expenses for professional psychological counselling and psychotherapy services for Sapienza students.
• Exchange: through Erasmus+, international projects and agreements with universities abroad, you can spend a period of study or an internship at Sapienza as an exchange student. Sapienza is also part of CIVIS, a European university alliance of 11 partners, which offers exchange opportunities with flexible programmes throughout the year.

Sapienza's welcome and services pages name no student associations or sports clubs, so ask the HELLO desk what is running when you arrive.

Rome and the Città Universitaria

Sapienza describes its main campus as a real city within the city, located in the heart of Rome. Its history page places the university's large campus a few steps from the central station, Termini.

Not every programme sits on that campus. The Welcome Week programme alone lists meetings in several parts of Rome and at the Latina campus, so check where your own programme is taught before you choose a neighbourhood to live in.

If you are a non-EU citizen living abroad, you first apply for a study entry visa at the Italian Embassy or Consulate in your country of residence, and within 8 days of arriving in Italy you request your first residence permit at a Poste Italiane office. Sapienza's page says the permit is generally issued about 90 days after your appointment at the Questura. EU citizens need no visa.

Step one: the study visa

Sapienza's residence permit page says a non-EU citizen residing abroad who wants to enrol in a degree programme in Italy must first apply for an entry visa for study purposes at the Italian diplomatic representation, Embassy or Consulate, in the country of residence. The pre-enrolment procedure must be completed online on the Universitaly portal.

Sapienza's international student office describes the visa you need as a "University Enrolment" visa, issued by the Italian diplomatic mission in the country where you live. The Universitaly dates and the pre-selection steps are in the admission chapters.

What goes into the kit

Sapienza lists what the kit for your first permit must include: Form 1, filled in and signed; a photocopy of your valid passport and study visa; a photocopy of health insurance valid for the entire duration of the permit; documents proving your means of livelihood in Italy; and a duty stamp of €16.00 bought at a tobacco shop.

The page does not state an amount of money you must prove. You must send the receipts of your permit application to studentistranieri@uniroma1.it along with your enrolment documents.

Work, renewal and staying after graduation

• Work: the study permit allows part-time work for a maximum of 20 hours per week, with an annual limit of 1,040 hours.
• Renewal: apply at least two months before your current permit expires. You need a certificate showing you passed at least one exam for the first renewal and at least two exams for later renewals, except in documented cases of force majeure.
• Course changes: you may not use or renew a study permit for a course other than the one named in your visa, apart from authorised transfers to other faculties or progression to a higher-level course.

If you want to stay in Italy after graduation to look for work, you can apply for a Residence Permit for Job Search. International students may also convert their study permit into a work permit, subject to current immigration quotas and legal requirements.

EU students on arrival

The permit steps above are for non-EU students. Sapienza's international student office accepts a valid passport, or an identity card for EU citizens only, as your identity document. For the 2026-2027 pre-selection, the process stayed open until July 31, 2026 exclusively for EU and EU-equivalent candidates who do not require a visa. Sapienza's pages describe no further arrival formality for EU citizens.

Sapienza suits you if you want a very large public university in Rome and an English-taught bachelor with a clear test route: its international admissions page puts full tuition for Bachelor's and Master's programmes at €300-1500 a year, according to country of residence. It suits you less if you need a guaranteed place, because a positive pre-selection outcome does not guarantee enrolment. Sapienza has published only the 2026-2027 cycle so far; the 2027-2028 cycle is not yet published.

Who Sapienza suits, and who it does not

Sapienza says it can offer such convenient rates thanks to public funding by the Italian Ministry of Higher Education. It describes itself as the largest public university in Europe, founded in 1303. For applicants from abroad, the fixed contribution by country band is explained in the tuition fees chapter.

• Suits you: budget-minded applicants who want a large public university in Rome and are ready to sit the test their programme asks for.
• Suits you: applicants with at least upper-intermediate English or Italian. Sapienza says all students must have a level of B2 in English or Italian, depending on the programme.
• Suits you less: applicants who need a guaranteed place. Pre-selection does not guarantee enrolment, and you can apply for a maximum of 2 programmes per academic year.
• Suits you less: applicants who cannot sit a mandatory admission test, which some programmes require, for example Medicine and Surgery.

English-taught programmes compared

Sapienza's course catalogue lists Applied Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (ACSAI) and Medicine and Surgery "F" as English-taught programmes with an admission test, and Global Humanities and Sustainable Building Engineering (Rieti Campus) with an entrance test to verify knowledge. The restricted-access programmes below have a fixed number of places for 2026-2027, split between EU places and non-EU places.

The non-EU places are reserved for citizens of a non-EU country who reside permanently abroad and need an entry visa for study purposes. The EU places are reserved for Italian citizens, citizens of other EU countries and non-EU citizens who hold a valid residence permit in Italy.

The English-taught Medicine and Dentistry admission test was held in person on 29 September 2026, in Rome and at locations abroad. The Bioinformatics requirements differ between two Sapienza documents: the call states a CEnT-S total score of over 18, while the MoveIn document asks for an overall converted score higher than zero. Check both before you choose a test date.

Next steps for entry in autumn 2027

Sapienza has not published the 2027-2028 calls. The dates below are the 2026-2027 cycle, the latest published, and they all lie in the past; use them as a map of the steps, not as dates for your own application. Sapienza said that calls for applications are published not before late June.

In practice, plan around three decisions: which programme and test route you can sit, whether your school GPA clears the programme's pre-selection minimum, and which of the two permitted applications you use. Return to Sapienza's admissions page for the 2027-2028 calls before you commit to a date.

Official pages of Sapienza University of Rome (Sapienza Università di Roma), UCAS, gov.uk and the ranking publishers. Applicant reports, where shown, are self-reported and labelled.

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Photos: Entrance to the Sapienza campus in Rome, with Sapienza banners: photo Melirius, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons · Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, Rome, seen from its courtyard: photo Paris Orlando, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons · Faculty of Economics building, Sapienza University of Rome: photo Carlo Dani, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons