University of Bologna: entry, fees and the study grant

Who Bologna actually suits

The University of Bologna dates to 1088 and is usually described as the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world. More usefully for you: it is a large public university with one of Italy's better-organised international offices, a serious English-taught list, and a funding scheme that genuinely pays students rather than merely discounting them.

It suits a strong applicant who can move early. It suits a weak applicant badly, because the thing that makes Bologna worth the effort — the study grant — is competitive.

Entry and fees at a glance

The study grant figure moves every year. Read it off the current call and nowhere else — including this article.

What it is genuinely strong in

Engineering (automation, electronics, biomedical), economics and finance, computer science and artificial intelligence, international relations and political science, agricultural sciences, and the humanities. The Bologna Business School and the economics faculty carry real weight in Europe. Several programmes are taught on the satellite campuses at Cesena, Forli, Ravenna and Rimini rather than in Bologna itself — check where your course physically sits before you plan a budget.

The study grant is the whole reason to apply early

Bologna runs study grants for international students that bundle a full tuition waiver with a cash grant paid across the year. Two things about it defeat most applicants:

1. 1It is a separate application, usually with a spring deadline, and admission alone does not enter you for it.
2. 2It is decided on academic merit, so the transcript you were relaxed about becomes the deciding document.

Separately, Emilia-Romagna's regional agency ER-GO runs the scholarship that covers a fee exemption, a cash grant and priority for housing and canteens. Both routes are set out in Bologna's study grants explained and in the DSU agency map.

How you apply

1. 1Find your programme's admission notice and note its call windows — Bologna runs several rounds and the first round is where the funding lives.
2. 2Apply on Studenti Online with your transcripts, syllabi and English certificate.
3. 3Apply separately for the study grant if you are eligible.
4. 4Get the CIMEA statement or Declaration of Value moving in parallel.
5. 5Complete Universitaly pre-enrolment after the offer.

The Bologna Process, since the name confuses people

The city gives its name to the Bologna Process, the agreement that standardised European degree structures — the three-year bachelor's plus two-year master's shape, and the ECTS credit system that makes credits comparable across countries. That is a piece of European policy history rather than a property of this university, and studying here confers no special status under it.

It matters for one practical reason. Because ECTS is the common currency, a Bangladeshi transcript has to be converted into it before any Italian committee can read it, and that conversion is exactly where a three-year pass degree and a four-year honours degree stop being interchangeable. Get your credits and course descriptions in order early — the mechanics are in CGPA and ECTS conversion.

The honest part

Bologna is a small city with a very large student population, and its rental market is the real barrier, not admission. Rooms are scarce and expensive relative to the town's size, and September is the worst month to arrive without one — the details are in the Bologna cost guide.

The other honest point is competition. Bologna's English-taught master's programmes in economics and artificial intelligence attract applicants from across Europe and South Asia, and admissions committees read your syllabi, not just your CGPA. A three-year Bangladeshi pass degree without matching course content is refused on curriculum grounds — see three-year versus four-year bachelor's.

Before you apply

1. 1Write the study grant deadline in your calendar the day you decide to apply.
2. 2Collect course descriptions and syllabi now; the master's assessment depends on them.
3. 3Start looking for a room the moment you have an offer, not after the visa.