Important Ministerial Note

Joint note from the Italian Ministry of Education and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

The evaluation of foreign qualifications for the purpose of enrolment in Italian higher education degree programmes falls within the exclusive remit of higher education institutions, as established by Article 2 of Law 148/2002. Institutions have the discretion to decide whether or not to request documentation from Italian diplomatic missions regarding the qualifications held by program applicants. In any event, such documentation is not binding on the decisions made by individual higher education institutions regarding foreign entry qualifications. During the evaluation of foreign qualifications for enrolment purposes, the documentation required from the student is determined by the individual higher education institution. The outcomes of the evaluation of foreign qualifications for enrolment in Italian degree programmes, as well as information regarding the verification of the authenticity of documents submitted by applicants, will be recorded by the relevant university on the UNIVERSITALY portal; this information is also intended for use by diplomatic-consular authorities when processing visa applications.

[...] The pre-enrolment at the University does not in any way guarantee an appointment with the Italian diplomatic authorities to submit visa applications.
We also remind you that, as already stated in the Ministerial guidelines titled Procedures for the entry, stay, enrolment of international students and the related recognition of qualifications for higher education courses in Italy on page 7, the University's prior acceptance of a candidate does not confer any right to obtain a visa, given that issuing student visas is the exclusive responsibility of the diplomatic authorities.

[…] effective January 31st of the relevant academic year, the entry visa of candidates for Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree students who do not appear as enrolled on the Universitaly portal will be revoked, with simultaneous notification to the competent Police Headquarters by the relevant diplomatic-consular mission.