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The admission calendar for Italy is counted backwards from three dates: the Universitaly application date, which the university sets itself and which can fall as early as June; the national visa application deadline, 30 November 2026 for the 2026/2027 academic year; and the start of classes, which at the large universities is mid or late September (MUR circular for 2026/2027, Verified: 2026-09-23). There is no single national opening day for admissions: pre-enrolment deadlines are “definiti da ogni singola Istituzione”, that is, each university sets its own. This is why this guide gives not one date but the order in which the dates are checked.
The short answer: four tracks that overlap
| Track | Who sets the deadline | Published reference point for 2026/2027 | What closes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Universitaly application | the university, for programs without national selection | Sapienza: by 30 June 2026, 23:59 Italian time | validation of the application by the university on the portal |
| Document confirmation | CIMEA or Dichiarazione di Valore | standard CIMEA procedure: 60 working days from payment and a complete set | Attestazione di comparabilità and Attestazione di verifica |
| Visa D | the embassy, national deadline | no later than 30 November 2026; for 2027/2028 no later than 31 October 2027 | the consulate’s decision, up to 90 days |
| Classes and enrolment | the university | PoliMi: first semester from 14 September 2026; Sapienza I3S: lectures from 23 September 2026 | immatricolazione, then the residence permit |
Row sources: MUR circular, Sapienza, international students, CIMEA, Comparability & Verification Service, Politecnico di Milano, 2026/2027 calendar, Sapienza I3S, calendario didattico, Verified: 2026-09-23. University dates refer to the named cycle and change every year.
Step 0: make sure the school certificate qualifies at all
For the first cycle the university requires a final secondary education document obtained “con almeno 12 anni di scolarità”, or a certificate that replaces it (MUR circular, part I, item 4, Verified: 2026-09-23). A Kazakhstani school gives 11 years, and this is the first thing the calendar has to settle: the missing year is closed either by a year of study at a Kazakhstani university or by a foundation course. How exactly universities accept this and what to do after grade 11 is covered separately: 12 years of schooling for Italy and applying via Universitaly. Until this question is closed, the other dates are meaningless.
If the student is completing a bachelor’s degree or already holds one, start with the chosen Laurea Magistrale requirements. See how to check the degree and subject background in Italian master’s admission after a Kazakhstan bachelor’s.
For a comparison with the other routes: Poland, Czechia or Italy.
Step 1: the Universitaly application, and why the university date matters more than the national one
The order for a non-EU resident is this: the student files a “domanda di preiscrizione” on Universitaly, the only official and free MUR portal; the university checks the file, requests copies of the documents and validates the application on the portal; only after validation can a visa be requested (MUR circular, Verified: 2026-09-23). The application names one course, and the visa and the residence permit are tied to that course (same source).
The closing date is set by the university, and it falls much earlier than it seems. Sapienza requires the application to be filed “entro il 30 giugno 2026, ore 23:59”, even incomplete, so that it can be validated before the consular deadlines (Sapienza, Verified: 2026-09-23). Other universities have their own date, and it is checked on the university’s website, not in general articles.
From 2026/2027 a cap was added: a university may validate no more applications than the places it has reserved for foreigners, “maggiorato di un 20%”. Once the cap is reached, Universitaly suspends validation, and a place is freed only when a visa is refused (MUR circular, part I, item 1, Verified: 2026-09-23). How many places the university has reserved, it must publish on its website together with the deadlines, and it sets the number itself by 31 December of the previous year under Article 46, paragraph 1, of DPR 394/1999 (same source). There is no single public national table by university, so the number is checked in the bando of the specific university.
Step 2: CIMEA runs in parallel, not afterwards
For Italy the school certificate is accompanied by an Attestazione di comparabilità and an Attestazione di verifica dell’autenticità from CIMEA, the Italian center of the ENIC-NARIC network, or by a Dichiarazione di Valore (MUR circular, Verified: 2026-09-23). CIMEA publishes the timeline of the standard procedure: 60 working days from payment and receipt of the complete set, and the standard service costs 300 EUR; which service applies depends on the country’s status under the Lisbon Convention, and this is checked on the CIMEA website (CIMEA, Verified: 2026-09-23). Two months is longer than the gap between receiving the certificate and the university’s June date, which is why CIMEA is ordered as soon as the certificate is in hand, in parallel with the apostille and the translation: apostille and sworn translation.
Step 3: language is checked before the visa
A level “almeno pari al B2” is mandatory for all Laurea, Laurea Magistrale and single-cycle courses; for a foundation course, no lower than B1. The university organizes the check before the visa is requested (MUR circular, part I, item 6, Verified: 2026-09-23). On an English-taught program the requirement does not disappear, it moves to English. What this looks like at the embassy and which certificate is accepted: Italy student visa.
Step 4: entrance tests, where they exist
The circular names the programs with mandatory national selection: Laurea and Laurea Magistrale leading to the profession of architect, and the Laurea Magistrale in Scienze della Formazione Primaria; the test dates are “definiti nei bandi predisposti dai singoli Atenei” (MUR circular, Verified: 2026-09-23). Medicine and dentistry have run since 2025/2026 through the “semestre aperto” under Legge 26/2025, with classes in three phases, September, October, November (Sapienza, semestre aperto 2026/2027, Verified: 2026-09-23). For the other programs, whether there is a test, an interview or neither is decided by the university, and it must state this in the bando (circular, same source).
The calendar consequence: if the test or the language exam is taken in person in Italy, the consulate issues a visa D with a conditional term of 100 days, so that the applicant can sit it and, if successful, enrol without going home; if the test falls too early for a normal pre-enrolment, a short-stay Schengen visa is needed (circular, same source). This is a separate branch of the calendar, and it has to be seen in advance.
Step 5: the visa, and the two dates that bound it
The national deadline for a visa application for Laurea, Laurea Magistrale and single-cycle programs: no later than 30 November 2026 for 2026/2027 and no later than 31 October 2027 for 2027/2028 (MUR circular, Verified: 2026-09-23). A decision on a national visa takes up to 90 days by law, and this term is lawfully exceeded when checks go through foreign authorities (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Verified: 2026-09-23).
There is also a boundary on the other side. From 31 January of the academic year, candidates for Laurea, Laurea Magistrale and AFAM diplomas who according to Universitaly data have still not enrolled have their visa revoked, with notice to the Questura (circular, same source). What exactly is submitted at the embassy in Astana, the 17-item checklist and the amount of funds: Italy student visa for Kazakhstanis.
Step 6: classes, immatricolazione and the residence permit
The academic year as a legal concept and the date of the first lecture are two different things. In Bologna the academic year formally runs from 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027, while each course has lectures on its own calendar (Università di Bologna, Verified: 2026-09-23). Politecnico di Milano runs the first semester from 14 September to 23 December 2026 and the second from 22 February to 5 June 2027 (PoliMi, calendar, Verified: 2026-09-23). At the Sapienza informatics faculty the first lecture cycle runs from 23 September to 22 December 2026 (Sapienza I3S, Verified: 2026-09-23). The calendar has to be counted from the lecture date of your own course, not from 1 November.
An example of the enrolment window for a visa student, Sapienza 2026/2027: Universitaly application by 30 June, then registration for the requirements check in Infostud from 2 July to 15 September 2026 with a 10 EUR fee (Sapienza, Verified: 2026-09-23). If there is no residence permit yet at the moment of immatricolazione, enrolment is formalized with a reservation, and the residence permit itself is requested within eight working days of arrival (circular, same source). What the costs around this are: cost of studying in Italy and grants.
What EEC does
EEC builds the calendar backwards from a specific course: first the lecture date and the university’s bando, from those the Universitaly application date and the CIMEA order, from those the language exam and the visa application with a 90-day margin. We do not name dates the university has not published, and we do not promise validation: the 20 percent cap is closed by the university’s decision, and the visa by the consulate’s decision. The whole route is on the Italy page.