Italy

Italy, English Medical Universities

Looking back on its glorious and glamorous moments in world history, one can easily remember the Renaissance, when Leonardo Da Vinci devoted himself in a tremendous number of works not only of arts but also of sciences, especially of medical science. Yes. Most probably the reputation of Italian medical education can be easily deducted and described by his last name, Da Vinci.

For about 10 years ago, a handful of Italian medical universities have initiated their twin-courses in English language, just like a ton of other medical universities in central and eastern European regions. As the language of instruction is “mainly” English, almost all the curricular activities, not to mention lectures and seminars, do require a pretty decent quality of English skills, in reading, speaking, listening, and writing. Still, there are a few of their academic programs such as in-house conferences and some of administrative procedures commanding one’s Italian language skills, at least some vocabularies on professional level, apart from speaking/listening skills. From this respect, no matter how good your Italian (but not Latin, if you do have) language skills are, you may well to give it a shot to apply for one of its medical universities as long as you are already interested in or looking forward to studying medicine, in English language.

Here are 5 quick facts that you may want to ask about “how Italian medschools are.” But, please do remember that there are both pros and cons for everything, with no exception to these Italian medical universities.

ALL applicants must take IMAT© (International Medical Admissions Test, similar to BMAT) in order to apply for the Italian medical universities, including those looking for “transfer opportunities.” The usual admission begins May, with the date of IMAT in the middle of Sep.
Acceptance of applicants are separated into two different categories: EU vs. non-EU applicants. Yes, it is very important in that these two groups have different and separate competition.
Both Italian and English curricula have 6-year programs, which do NOT require any ~~bachelor’s degree~~ of university level. In other words, everyone can apply “WITH high school diploma or any of its equivalent certificate approved by one’s government.”
Annual tuition ranges from around 400 USD up to 4,000 USD for public universities. (*Private universities may go up to 17,000 USD per year, with more possibilities of scholarships and student loans.)
Admission is HIGHLY COMPETITIVE not only because of the difficulty level of the IMAT questions but also because of Italian applicants that are applying for both English AND ITALIAN programs of Italian medical universities.

Once you have enough knowledge in math, physics, biology, and chemistry, you still would want to practice more of your English skills, especially in terms of “logical thinking and deductive/inductive reasoning skills” since the half of the test governs these “reading skills,” including a couple of “simple knowledge in history, culture, and literature, specifically regarding Italian and European ones.”

Apart from these “academic preparation” efforts, non-EU applicants are required to go through with a “long(literally long!)” list of administrative and bureaucratic procedures, slightly different from country to country. These will include “pre-enrolment(only for non-EU applicants; with declaration of value to validate your high school diploma)” at consulates/embassies where your “high school education was completed” as well as “student visa application,” which requires another long list of required documents, depending on your citizenships. Also, for certain countries, you may be required to enter Italian border “in order to take IMAT,” with a proper (6-month validity) student visa obtained.