IT Universities in Italy for African Students
A computing degree at an Italian public university costs €200–4,200 per year, and every origin country we work with sits in a reduced band — Sapienza charges €300 per year. Politecnico di Milano, at #87 (QS 2027), leads for engineering and computing. The catch is the money you must show first: €10,179.85 per year, blocked, before a consulate issues the visa.
Why study IT in Italy?
Italy teaches computing in two kinds of institution: the technical universities — Politecnico di Milano at #87 (QS 2027) and Politecnico di Torino at #206 (QS 2027) — and the computer-science departments inside very large general universities such as Bologna, Sapienza, Padua and Pisa.
Price is the strongest argument. Public tuition runs €200–4,200 per year, but non-EU students without an Italian ISEE are graded into fee bands by their country’s income classification, and all nine origins we cover fall in a reduced or middle band, never the top. Your fee band is set by your passport rather than your marks, and for African applicants that works in your favour: Sapienza charges €300 per year and Milan Statale €346–402 per year, against €17,000 per year at private Bocconi.
The African cohort is still small. 6,452 students from the nine countries we cover were counted against 54,000 international students in 2024/25 (total); 2022 (by-origin), and the spread is lopsided: 2,650 from Morocco and 2,076 from Egypt, against 678 from Nigeria and 37 from Zambia.
Language is the trade-off, and it now sits inside the visa procedure rather than only in admissions. Our guide to studying in Italy covers the wider picture.
Top IT and computer-science universities in Italy
Politecnico di Milano ranks #87 (QS 2027) and is the country’s strongest computing and engineering address, with 49,395 students. Bachelor’s fees run €880.04–3,943.04 per year; non-EU master’s entrants with a foreign bachelor’s and no scholarship go straight into the top band at €3,943.04 per year.
Politecnico di Torino ranks #206 (QS 2027) and teaches computer science, data science and automotive and aerospace engineering, with 8 English bachelor’s and 30 English master’s. Its flat country table puts most African applicants near the bottom of €600–3,600 per year.
Sapienza University of Rome ranks #111 (QS 2027) and is the cheapest serious option here: all nine origin countries sit in its lowest band, €300 per year at both levels, with 8 English bachelor’s and 45 English master’s.
University of Bologna ranks #123 (QS 2027) and runs engineering and computing at €500–1,200 per year or €600–1,400 per year, the lower half reserved for Ugandan and Zambian citizens and the upper half for the other seven origins.
University of Padua ranks #204 (QS 2027) with 4 English bachelor’s and 28 English master’s in engineering and technology. Its published fee is €2,790–2,990 per year, cut to roughly a third for citizens of DAC low-income countries.
University of Milan (La Statale) ranks #270 (QS 2027), charges €346–402 per year to Group A countries and lists 4 English bachelor’s and 40 English master’s across science and technology.
University of Pisa ranks #343 (QS 2026) and has a long computer-science and data-science tradition. Fees are tiered by World Bank income group at €290–2,900 per year, with 2 English bachelor’s and 17 English master’s.
University of Rome Tor Vergata ranks #342 (QS 2027) and charges €500–4,500 per year, the top of that range applying to one English-taught governance degree rather than to engineering.
University of Naples Federico II at #401 (QS 2027) and University of Florence at #409 (QS 2027) add engineering and computing at €146–3,585 per year and €156–2,900 per year. The full set is in Italian universities.
What an IT degree in Italy really costs
Tuition is the small line. Every public university adds a regional right-to-study tax and stamp duty of €140–160 per year, and application fees run from free at Bologna, Milan Statale, Pisa and Naples to €60 at Padua and €100 at Bocconi.
The city decides the budget, not the university. Nationally, living costs are €900–1,300 per month; Milan runs €1,050–1,550 per month with a single room at €390–704 per month, Rome €950–1,400 per month, while Turin sits at €750–1,150 per month and Pisa at €230–364 per month for rent.
Add health cover at €135–700 per year, the visa fee of €50 and the residence permit at €116.46 before you compare anything. None of that is refundable if the visa is refused, so the order matters: offer first, money second, flights last. The full breakdown is in Italy study costs.
Can you study IT in Italy in English?
At master’s level, widely. Sapienza lists 45 English-taught master’s, Milan Statale 40, Politecnico di Torino 30, Padua 28, Pisa 17 and Tor Vergata 17. Politecnico di Milano and Bologna describe their English provision as many without publishing a count.
At bachelor’s level the supply is thin: Sapienza 8, Politecnico di Torino 8, Milan Statale 4, Padua 4, Pisa 2, Florence 1. Those places are contested by applicants from every continent.
The language rule now bites at the visa stage, not only at admission. For an open-access Italian-taught degree, MUR’s circular for 2026/27 — extended to 2027/28 by consulate notices — makes a B2 Italian certificate a condition of Universitaly pre-enrolment, and pre-enrolment gates the visa. For English-taught courses the level is set programme by programme, commonly B2 and sometimes C1, and some universities check it at that same stage.
How Africans apply: recognition and admission
Everything runs through one platform. You pre-enrol on Universitaly (national pre-enrolment platform for international students) at universitaly.it, then take that pre-enrolment to the consulate — Italian consulate/embassy, or an authorised visa application centre such as VFS Global, in the applicant's country of legal residence.
The dates are ministerial, not institutional: University-set pre-enrolment deadline via Universitaly, generally by ~30 September (April-June instead for entrance-exam courses e.g. Medicine, Architecture); visa application to the consulate no later than 30 November — binding, per MUR procedure confirmed valid for both the 2026/27 and 2027/28 cycles. Master’s applicants follow the same national process, with each university setting internal dates inside it.
Recognition of a WASSCE, KCSE, NSC or Baccalauréat is done document by document: Consular Dichiarazione di Valore (DoV), or CIMEA Statement of Comparability as an accepted alternative. An apostille is needed (yes), a German-style pre-screening certificate is not (no), and unverified academic certificates are one of the consulate’s listed refusal reasons. Whether a computing programme sets its own admission test is decided by each university and is not published as a national rule.
There is one intake — Autumn (late September/October) — so a missed consulate date costs a year. The permit side is in the Italy student visa guide.
Do you need IELTS for IT in Italy?
There is no national English floor in Italian law; each university sets its own, and IELTS 6 at bachelor’s and 6 at master’s is a common baseline rather than a rule. Politecnico di Milano accepts IELTS 5 at bachelor’s level, 6 at master’s or TOEFL iBT 78.
Politecnico di Torino takes IELTS 5.5 or TOEFL 72, Sapienza IELTS 5.5 or TOEFL 80, Padua IELTS 6 and Pisa TOEFL 90. Whether schooling in English can replace a test is decided programme by programme, and a university that waives the certificate for admission will still expect the language level named in your offer letter. The route without a test, where it exists, is in studying in Italy without IELTS.
Working while you study — and after
Your study permit carries a work right: 20 hours/week maximum, with a separate work permit needed — no. Same 20 hours/week cap applies year-round — hours cannot be shifted between weeks or concentrated in holiday periods. Italy has no statutory minimum wage; sector agreements set pay, and the retail and hospitality reference used by most student jobs is €5.20–7.07 per hour.
After graduation you convert the study permit into a Permesso di soggiorno per attesa occupazione (job-seeker permit), converted from the study permit, worth 12 months at any degree level for €116.46. That is a year to find work in a market where technical Italian is usually expected outside the largest employers.
Scholarships for IT students
Two national schemes are open to all nine origin countries: Italian Government scholarships and Erasmus Mundus joint master’s, both confirmed eligible for Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Morocco. Eligibility for the regional DSU right-to-study grants is not published by origin country, so treat it as unconfirmed until your region’s call opens.
In practice the fee band is worth more than most awards. Sapienza’s €300 per year is already below what a scholarship would refund elsewhere, and at Bocconi the need-based waivers move master’s fees across €3,710–18,550 per year, assessed for every applicant whether EU or not. Apply for the fee band and the scholarship in the same cycle, because neither is awarded retroactively. See Italy scholarships.
What works in your favour
- Ranked engineering schools charge public fees: Politecnico di Milano #87 (QS 2027) at €3,943.04 per year, Politecnico di Torino #206 (QS 2027) at €600–3,600 per year.
- Computing taught in English concentrates at master’s level: 45 English master’s programmes at Sapienza, 40 at Milan, 30 at Politecnico di Torino.
- Each university sets its own English bar and some sit low: Politecnico di Milano asks IELTS 5 for bachelor’s, under the 6 common elsewhere.
- A cheaper campus city keeps the total down: rooms in Pisa €230–364 per month, living in Turin €750–1,150 per month, against €1,050–1,550 per month in Milan.
- Applying costs little to try: €60 at Padua and €50 for the visa.
The honest downsides
- The money test is the hard part. You must show €10,179.85 per year, blocked for thirteen months and sharply higher than the year before, and unclear proof of funds is the first refusal reason consulates list. See proof of funds.
- The deadline moves earlier. For the 2027/28 cycle the ministerial pre-enrolment and visa deadline for bachelor’s and single-cycle courses shifts a month forward, which pulls your document work into the middle of 2027.
- Italian is now a visa condition for open-access Italian-taught degrees, not just a study aid, and B2 certificates take months to earn.
- English-taught computing bachelor’s places are counted in single digits per university and compete against the whole world.
- Bureaucracy continues after arrival: the residence permit costs €116.46, must be filed within days of landing, and visa processing itself takes 6–13 weeks.
Our core guidance is free, funded by commission from the universities we work with. We check which fee band your citizenship falls into, shortlist computing programmes that match your qualification and language level, and vet every document — Dichiarazione di Valore or CIMEA statement, apostille, funds evidence — before it goes into Universitaly. If you want the file handled end to end, our optional paid Premium Placement does that. We never sell admission or visa outcomes.
Frequently asked questions
Public tuition is €200–4,200 per year, and citizens of all nine countries we cover fall into a reduced band: €300 per year at Sapienza, €346–402 per year at Milan Statale. Add the regional tax of €140–160 per year and living costs of €900–1,300 per month, which are the real expense.
Politecnico di Milano at #87 (QS 2027) leads, followed by Sapienza at #111 (QS 2027), Bologna at #123 (QS 2027), Padua at #204 (QS 2027) and Politecnico di Torino at #206 (QS 2027). Pisa, Milan Statale and Tor Vergata also run computing with English-taught master's tracks.
At master's level, yes: Sapienza lists 45 English-taught master's, Milan Statale 40 and Politecnico di Torino 30. At bachelor's level the supply is small — 8 at Torino, 2 at Pisa — and competition for those places is heavy. Italian-taught computing degrees are far more numerous and much easier to get into.
Yes, once it is verified. Italy uses a Consular Dichiarazione di Valore (DoV), or CIMEA Statement of Comparability as an accepted alternative, plus an apostille on your certificates. There is no German-style pre-screening certificate. Missing or unlegalised academic documents are among the refusal reasons consulates list, so start this paperwork months before pre-enrolment opens.
Not as a national rule. Whether a computing programme sets an admission test is decided by each university, and the only courses with an earlier nationwide pre-enrolment window are entrance-exam subjects such as Medicine and Architecture. Check the programme page for the test, its date and whether it is held online for overseas applicants.
You may work 20 hours/week maximum on a study permit, and a separate work permit is needed — no. The cap applies year-round, so holidays give you no extra hours. Italy sets no statutory minimum wage; sector agreements do, with retail and hospitality around €5.20–7.07 per hour.
No. The fees are low, not absent: €200–4,200 per year plus the regional right-to-study tax of €140–160 per year. The larger requirement is the visa one — €10,179.85 per year shown as blocked funds — which no fee waiver removes.
Two things. The blocked-funds requirement stays at €10,179.85 per year, confirmed as the settled baseline for both the 2026/27 and 2027/28 intakes rather than a one-off rise. And the ministerial deadline for bachelor's and single-cycle pre-enrolment and visa application moves a month earlier for 2027/28.