Education system in Italy
The Italian University System is organised in three cycles, which include programmes of various duration.
- 1st CYCLE > Bachelor’s degree (Laurea triennale – 3 years) or Single cycle degree programmes (Laurea a ciclo unico – 5/6 years)
- 2ND CYCLE > Master’s degree programmes (Laurea magistrale – 2 years)
- 3RD CYCLE > PhD, Doctoral research (Dottorato – 3 years)
University courses are organized in credits. One university credit (CFU) is usually equivalent to 25 hours of study, including self-study. The average academic work completed by a full-time student in one year is conventionally measured in 60 CFUs. The CFU system is equivalent to the ECTS system.
The Italian higher education system is a binary system, divided into two major sectors: the University sector and the Higher Education for Fine Arts, Music and Dance sector, also known as the AFAM sector.
The ITALIAN UNIVERSITY SECTOR includes the following higher education institutions:
- public Universities
- legally recognised non-public Universities
- online Universities
- higher schools and institutions with special charter
You can access the list of university institutions at the following websites:
While the ITALIAN NON-UNIVERSITY SECTOR is primarily composed of Higher Education for Art, Music and Dance (AFAM) institutions. A full list of AFAM institutions can be found on the http://www.afam.miur.it/argomenti/istituzioni.aspx.
For more information about the complete educational offer in Italy.
