Foundation Year at Sapienza University of Rome
Application for the 2025-2026 Sapienza Foundation Year are now open! You have time until 16/06/2025. For information on requirements, procedures, and deadlines, please refer to the Call for Applications and the other documents available here
Participation to the admission procedure is conditioned under penalty of exclusion on paying a participation fee of € 200,00 within 16/06/2025. The participation fee is not refundable for any reason. Payment of the participation fee without following in due time the whole procedure described below at Article 6 does not guarantee inclusion in the final admission list.
What is the "Foundation Year" Programme?
The Sapienza University “Foundation Year” Programme was conceived for international students who need to complete their basic education in order to pass an admission test in Italian state universities (in a range of disciplines, i.e. Medicine, Architecture, Science, Engineering and Humanities). The programme is held in Italian and primarily addresses to students who do not meet the minimum schooling requirements outlined in current legislation for enrolment at Italian universities.
Candidates may apply for the “Foundation Year” Programme even if they already have the 12 years of schooling necessary to enrol, but wish to improve their educational or linguistic competences.
Students who successfully complete the programme will be able to apply to Bachelors or Single-cycle degree programmes at Sapienza University without having to sit the Italian language exam for Non-EU students. Attendance is mandatory for at least 75% of classrooms.
Eligible Candidates
Candidates who meet the requirements indicated below are eligible to apply for the programme:
- holding a secondary school diploma obtained abroad after 11 years of schooling;
- possess minimum B2 English language level or equivalent level .
Candidates Non-EU citizens residing abroad have mandatory to request by 30 june 2025 through the UNIVERSITALY platform (https://www.universitaly.it/), a visa for study purposes for the academic year 2025-2026 for “University enrolment” (see https://www.uniroma1.it/
For further information about enrolment procedures visit the Hello - International Student Office page
To pay the application fee, after logging into the main page of your Infostud 2.0, please follow step by step the instructions below:
- CORSI DI FORMAZIONE - Advanced Professional Courses ⇒
- IMMATRICOLAZIONE (“tuition fees”) (on the left side of the screen; under item “Tasse”)
- Insert CODICE (“code”) 32950
- Click on VAI 4 (“continue”)
- Click on SUCCESSIVO
- Click on GENERA BOLLETTINI
- Click on PagoPA
- Pay the installments through the PagoPA platform following the instructions at: https://www.uniroma1.it/en/pagina/payment.
Study Options
The “Sapienza Foundation Year" Programme is made up of three parts: 1. Intensive Italian language and culture classes; 2. Curricular classes in either Human Sciences (Art History, Contemporary History, Italian Literature, Sociology), Natural Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics) or Social Sciences (Contemporary History, Mathematics, Physics, Sociology); 3. Preparatory classes for entrance exams on four groups of subjects: Applied Sciences, Management Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Human Sciences.
Courses are entirely held in Italian; they are aimed at complete beginners and no previous knowledge of the language is required. Within the Sapienza Foundation Year Programme, English is also used as an administrative language to facilitate communication between students and administration, not for teaching.
Classroom activities total 400 hours, and attendance is mandatory for at least 75% of them.
October 2025
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Introductory Italian Language and Culture Online A1-A2 |
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Nov 2025–Feb 2026 200 hours
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Intensive Italian language and Culture Classroom B1-B2 |
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Feb 2026–May 2026 160 hours/curriculum 40 hours/class
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Curricular classes |
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Human Sciences: Art History Contemporary History Italian Literature Sociology |
Social Sciences: Contemporary History Mathematics Physics Sociology
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Natural Sciences: Biology Chemistry Mathematics Physics |
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May 2026–Jun 2026 40 hours
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Preparatory classes |
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Applied Sciences (Engineering, etc.) |
Management Sciences (Economics, Management, etc.)
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Clinical Sciences (Medicine, Nursing, Psychology, etc.) |
Human Sciences (Archaeology, Art History, Classics, etc.) |
Info and Contact
Marco Polo Building
Via Circonvallazione Tiburtina, 4
00185 Rome
(Locate on map)