How to Study in Italy Without IELTS

Can you study in Italy without IELTS? The straight answer

Partly, and more often than most applicants expect. Italy has no national English-floor law: the ministry sets no score, and each of the 100 recognised institutions writes its own rule. IELTS 6 at bachelor’s level and 6 at master’s is the common baseline we track, not a fixed requirement. Two doors are open. The first is an English-taught programme at a university that accepts something else — TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, the Duolingo English Test, a medium-of-instruction letter, an English-medium school record, or an interview. The University of Turin and the University of Florence publish no numeric threshold at all, and Politecnico di Milano sets its bachelor’s floor at IELTS 5, the lowest we record in Italy. The second door is an Italian-taught degree, where the certificate you sit is CILS or CELI, not IELTS. You can avoid IELTS in Italy; since 2026 you cannot avoid proving a language, because a B2 certificate is checked at the Universitaly step that gates your visa. Our guide to studying in Italy sets out the wider picture.

“No IELTS” is not “no English” — the distinction

Agents in Lagos and Accra sell “no IELTS” as “no English needed”. It is not that. An English-taught degree in Italy is examined in English — lectures, group projects, an oral thesis defence — and universities set the level at B2 on the Common European Framework, sometimes C1. The University of Milan and the University of Florence say exactly that: B2, with no IELTS number published anywhere. What changes without IELTS is the evidence you file, not the standard you meet. A medium-of-instruction letter records the language your school taught in, not your own level, which is why most Italian universities read it case by case rather than accepting it outright. Pick the alternative your target university names on its own page, then check the rule covers your programme and not just the university. Our guide to IELTS alternatives sets out what each option costs in time and money.

Typical English requirements at universities in Italy

The lowest published floor in Italy is at Politecnico di Milano: IELTS 5 for an English-taught bachelor’s, rising to 6 at master’s level, or TOEFL iBT 78. Politecnico di Torino sets IELTS 5.5 at both levels, or TOEFL iBT 72. Sapienza University of Rome also uses IELTS 5.5 and TOEFL iBT 80, from a closed list that includes Cambridge certificates and PTE but leaves out the Duolingo English Test. The University of Milan publishes CEFR B2 rather than a score; the numbers commonly quoted for it are IELTS 5.5 at bachelor’s and 6 at master’s.

A middle band sits at IELTS 6: the University of Padua, with TOEFL iBT 80; the University of Pisa, with TOEFL iBT 90; the University of Naples Federico II, where each English-taught programme still sets its own floor; and the University of Bologna at master’s level, at IELTS 6, fixed by each programme’s own admission call. The highest bars are Bocconi University at IELTS 6.5 with TOEFL iBT 88, and the English-taught master’s at the University of Rome Tor Vergata at IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL iBT 87.

The University of Turin and the University of Florence publish no university-wide minimum; each English-taught programme decides for itself. Tor Vergata publishes no bachelor’s score either and checks English by interview or CEFR level for its Global Governance degree. A missing number is not an open door: it means your level is judged from your file or an interview, and a judgement is harder to prepare for than a test date. Programme lists are on our Italian universities page.

Universities that accept students without IELTS

Politecnico di Milano is the most useful case for an African applicant. It accepts a medium-of-instruction letter, reads a WAEC English grade case by case, and takes TOEFL iBT or PTE Academic in place of IELTS across its English-taught degrees.

The University of Milan accepts both a medium-of-instruction letter and WAEC English, and publishes no fixed IELTS score for its 4 English-taught bachelor’s and 40 master’s programmes. Politecnico di Torino accepts WAEC English outright and reads a medium-of-instruction letter case by case, across 8 English-taught bachelor’s and 30 master’s degrees. The University of Turin accepts a medium-of-instruction letter and publishes no score at all for its 3 bachelor’s and 21 English-taught master’s programmes.

The University of Padua and the University of Pisa both accept a medium-of-instruction letter, neither accepts a WAEC grade, and Pisa also takes the Duolingo English Test. The University of Bologna counts a year or more of English-medium schooling as equivalent, decided programme by programme. Bocconi University accepts the Duolingo English Test and TOEFL iBT, and reads a medium-of-instruction letter case by case, but not a WAEC grade.

Every rule here is programme-specific: the same university can waive the test for one degree and refuse the waiver for the next, so read the programme page rather than the general admissions page. The University of Naples Federico II accepts neither a medium-of-instruction letter nor WAEC English.

Local-language programmes: Italy’s other door

Most Italian degrees are taught in Italian, and at bachelor’s level that is close to the whole system. The University of Pisa runs 2 English-taught bachelor’s programmes against 17 master’s; the University of Florence runs 1 and 9. The level asked is B2, evidenced by CILS, CELI, PLIDA, CERTIT or the CISIA ITA-L2 test, and since the 2026/27 ministerial circular that certificate is a formal condition of Universitaly pre-enrolment for open-access Italian-taught courses — the step that gates the visa. Pisa runs its Italian test remotely for the 2026/27 cycle. Tuition does not change: €200–4,200 per year at a public university, plus the regional right-to-study tax of €140–160 per year.

Italian is new ground for all nine of the countries we work with. French does not shorten it for Moroccan applicants, and English does not shorten it for Nigerians or Ghanaians. It shows in the numbers: 2,650 Moroccans and 2,076 Egyptians study in Italy, against 678 Nigerians, 240 Kenyans and 37 Zambians. A year of Italian before you apply is the slowest route on this page and the one that opens the most places.

When you still need a recognised English test

Some doors need a certificate whatever the university says. Scholarships come first: the Italian government scheme and Erasmus Mundus consortia set their own language evidence, and a school letter rarely clears it — see our Italian Government Scholarship guide. Medicine is its own case. Bologna tests English for Medicine and Surgery with its own exam and treats a certificate as a tie-breaker only, while English-taught medicine at a public university stays inside the standard fee band of €200–4,200 per year. Selective programmes with small intakes take the test-holder over the interview candidate when they have to choose. And the visa now carries its own language condition, as our Italy student visa guide explains.

The honest bit: what “without IELTS” does and doesn’t buy you

It buys you a shorter list, not an easier one. Skipping IELTS removes a fee and a test date; it does not remove the level, the deadlines, or the money you must show — €10,179.85 per year, evidenced before the consulate looks at anything else. A waiver based on your prior schooling still has to be documented and believed, and an interview cannot be resat on demand. The universities with the lowest published floors here are public and cheap, at €200–4,200 per year, so the trade-off in Italy is rarely money — it is certainty. If your shortlist is public universities, sitting a mainstream test is usually faster than rebuilding your plan around avoiding one — weigh it against the full cost of studying in Italy.