Study in Italy

About Italy

• Geography-The Italian peninsula is shaped in the form of a boot. If you look closely at the map of this country, then you will feel as if Italy is going to kick Sicily. Sicily is a part of autonomous Italy. Italy consists of many volcanoes. Mount Etna on Sicily is a famous mountain that contains the largest active volcano in Europe. Other than Mount Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius are some of the active volcanoes found here.
• History-If you are a student of History or World History then Italy should be your dream destination. In fact, I would suggest the Indian students of World History study their masters or doctoral courses in Italy. You will be able to learn some of the important eras of world history over there. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte was banished to the island of Elba. Tourists come to visit his summer and winter residences in Elba. The leaning tower of Pisa is another important place. It was built in the year 1173. Then later in the year 2008, efficient engineers were hired to reconstruct this tower. It is now said to be strong enough to withstand any natural calamity for more than 100 more years. The Ducal Palace is a 15th-century building, which could accommodate around 600 people during the Renaissance period. You will be able to study the architectural styles of the Italian buildings. If you go to the city of Ravenna, then you will know what I am talking about. The Basilica of San Vitale in the city of Ravenna contains a huge collection of mosaics. Tourists from all over the world come to this city to behold this style of decoration.
• Politics-The democratic of republic started from the year of 1946. As in India, the legal system consists of the executive power, the legislative power and the judiciary. But unlike India, the president of this republic is chosen for 7 long years. The current prime minister of Italy is Giuseppe Conte.

  Quick Facts

  • The country of Italy is also known as 'BelPaese which means a beautiful country.
  • The currency of Italy is Lira. Nowadays, you can use both Euros and Liras in Italy. Earlier in THE northwest of Italy Lira was interchangeably called as Franc.
  • It is believed that the name of this country came from the bull symbol of Italian tribes.
  • The unofficial national animal of Italy is a wolf.
  • The Vatican City is one of the independent states of Italy. Vatican City has its own television and radio stations, telecommunication stations and army.
  • During the time just prior to the Renaissance, that is, towards the middle of the 14th century there was a huge outbreak of bubonic plague. It is believed that such situations were brought by the merchants who came back from the Middle East countries. This era is known as the era of Black Deathas a lot of people died there.
  • Monte Bianco of Italy, also known as the White Mountain is the highest peak in Europe.
  • It is believed that the Shroud of Turin has the imprint of the body of Jesus Christ. This Shroud is kept in the royal chapel of the cathedral of Saint John. It is basically a linen cloth that contains the imprint of the body of a man. Most of the Italians believe that this imprint is of Jesus Christ and it was taken after his death.
  • The majority of Italy consists of Roman Catholics. It is said that the population of Roman Catholics consists of more than 80% of the total population.
  • This country is rich in sculpture, painting, architecture and literature. In fact, Indians who are also culturally very sound would definitely like to stay in Italy. Galileo Galilei, Dante, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci are some of the great men who were born in Italy. These people have made the Italian culture, world famous.
  • Did you know that Italy has a certain area which is considered to be the land of witches? These witches are actually nurses. They make potions which are sold to people who have health problems. They are called witches, maybe because they don't communicate in the Italian language. These witches have a special code of communication among each other.

  Admission Process in Italy

  • You must submit the photocopies of the mark sheets and certificates of class 10, 12, graduation/ master's degree. The number of certificates and mark sheets will change depending on the course for which you are applying. For example, if you are applying to study in the senior secondary school, then the mark sheets of class 12 and graduation will be meaningless. The same is applicable for an undergraduate certificate or diploma courses. During submitting the application form, you need to submit either the scanned copies or the photocopies of the testimonials. But when you actually enter Italy, you will have to show the original mark sheets for the final verification.
  • You must obtain a fit certificate from the medical clinic or a doctor near your locality. The doctor will ask you to do a few blood tests. After you do them, submit the reports to the doctor. He will check the reports and give you a fit certificate.
  • You need to submit the admission or form fee to the university where you are taking admission. This fee will depend on the course and the institute where you are applying. This fee is nonrefundable. So even if your application gets rejected, you will not get this form fee back.
  • You need to submit a statement of purpose. This application is mostly required in case of masters or doctoral courses. The university will scrutinize this statement to understand as to why you have chosen that university. This statement of purpose must also put forward why you have chosen that subject and how it will help your career. Remember, every year lakhs of applications come to those universities. So your statement of purpose must be different from that of others. You need to stand out as an applicant.
  • Here also you must submit the certificates of any extracurricular activity. A university prefers candidates who are not only engaged in studies but also in cultural activities. Here also, the government certificates for any social or community work will be valuable for your application. If you have completed a certificate course in any European language, then you can submit that certificate too.
  • You must also submit the score of any international entrance or competitive examination, if it is applicable for your course. For example, if you are applying for a management course, then a valid GMAT score will be applicable. If you are applying for a course in English Literature, a valid TOEFL score will be applicable.

  Student Visa Application Process

  For Indian students, the student visa that is provided to study in Italy is known as a D National Visa. This visa takes around 3-4 months in processing. This time is taken to verify the documents that you have submitted. The time duration starts right after you have given the visa interview. The visa application fee is 50 Euros. Other than that, you will have to pay some fee for the SMS alerts. This fee could be around Rs.100. Other than the visa application charges, there is a separate fee that you will have to pay. This is a fee for a residence permit in Italy. You don't need to pay this fee while submitting your visa application. You can apply for a residence permit only after you enter Italy. The visa application fee can be paid online or directly in the visa office. Generally, today's young generation prefers payment of visa application online through internet banking.

  Lifestyle

  If you are choosing higher education in Italy, then it is a wise choice as the universities in Italy have a wide variety and a very nicely structured curriculum. The tuition fee of colleges is very low compared to many other developed countries. This is because; the government of Italy patronizes the educational system of this country. The fee for the daycare or crèche for children is quite low. You can get a daycare for a child for around 350 Liras per month. This is applicable for the young mothers who have come to Italy for higher education, from India. The nightlife of Italy is also very interesting. You will find a lot of clubs where nice music is played. You can also dance along with the music. Cities like Rome, Milan, etc., have a huge number of shopping malls and supermarkets. You can spend some time there. You can buy a few souvenirs for your relatives. After your classes get over, you can think of joining a language class. Italy has a lot of training institutes that help you learn various European languages. This is applicable for those students who want to do a job in Italy or Spain or some other European country. This is also applicable for international students who want to go back to their home country and do a job at a foreign language institute. When you have a day off from the study, you can think of local sightseeing. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the biggest attraction points in Italy. You can visit and climb the 296 steps of this tower. You can also think of visiting the island of Elba if you get an extended weekend or a holiday of around three days. If you go there with your batch mates you will definitely enjoy your holiday to the fullest.
  The tuition fee of a course in any Italian university may rise up to 1000 Euros per year. This is quite cheap. The food in Italy is also not very expensive. You will find out more on this from Cost of Living section. One very interesting fact is that the cost of education is low in Italy that you don't need student loans to pay up for your education. In fact, this country doesn't have any provisions for student loans. This is a modern thinking and implementation of education. This has been possible highly because of the government initiatives. So Italy is an excellent choice for higher education. In fact, Italy is so rich in sculpture, paintings and literature, etc. that you will never feel bored over here.

  Cost of Living for Students

  Accommodation-Residence halls are quite common here. You can find residence halls within the university campus or outside. The University of Padova, for example, provides residence halls both inside and outside the university campus. To book residence halls a student might have to go through some sort of a lottery or competition. You can log onto the official website of ESU to check for the availability of residence halls and the competition process. Such residence halls keep the process of competition because every year many Indian students come in huge bulks to study in any university or college in Italy. But accommodating all of them in the residence halls is impossible. Although a residence hall means dormitory, which means at least two students can share one room. There will be one desk and chair provided for all the roommates. The bed will be either one or two in each room. Some big rooms may contain three beds in it. The cost of the rooms is based on the number of beds. Single bed residence halls cost between 30-40 Liras per month. The cost rises up based on the number of beds. You can also think of staying in an apartment. In that case, you should definitely think of sharing your apartment with few other students. The costs of the apartments vary between 300-500 Euros per month. The variation comes due to the extra utilities provided in the apartment. Although gas, housekeeper and electricity bills will be separate from the rent of the apartment. If you want to stay in rent flats, then it would cost you up to 1200Liras per month. This is not a very wise decision when you are a student. Along with the house rent, you will also have to pay for the electricity separately.
  FoodJust like in India,here also you will find the food giants like McDonalds or KFC. The basic cost of the meals and other food items available there starts from 5 Liras. If you are staying in a flat or an apartment, then either you will be cooking at home or you will hire a housekeeper who will cook for you. You will have to buy the groceries from the market in either case. Now, the prices of the grocery items will vary from market to market. Generally, the cost of a maximum of the items ranges between 1-4 Liras per kilogram. Chicken and Cheese will cost you a little higher. Even in India, you face the same thing in the market. In fact, in Italy most of the items have similar prices, which is not the case in India. You can also think of eating in restaurants once in a while. Italian cuisine is a very famous cuisine. If you are a heavy consumer of pizzas, pasta and lasagnas, then Italy will mesmerize you. If you are thinking of having breakfast, lunch and dinner in a restaurant for a couple of days, then you have to think that it will cost you around 100 Liras maximum per day. This is considering that you will consume the food at a restaurant having moderate charges for the food. In my suggestion, it is best to have the lunch in the student canteen of your university. If you want to have a good meal during the lunchtime at any restaurant, then my suggestion would be to have a meagre breakfast, either at home or in a cafeteria and then eating a brunch in a restaurant. This would be cost effective also.
  
  TransportationThere are buses and trains available for travelling through the cities of Italy. In Italy, you have an interesting transport facility known as trams. Rome has a wide range of trams available for people. Those who live in Kolkata(of India) would understand what is meant by a tram. It is basically a transport facility that almost looks like a train and also runs on electricity. In some of the cities of Italy, you have the facility of travelling by someone's bike. You have to give the fee for the transportation to the bike owner. But you do require a helmet while travelling. So if the bike owner doesn't have an extra helmet, either you have to buy one or choose a different transport option. You can travel by trams or trains or buses using electronic cards, also known as passes. The first time charge, of the card, is 10 Liras. After that, the fare would depend on the duration or the number of usages. Here the facility of a bus ticket is that you can change buses using the same ticket. A bus ticket once issued will be valid for another 100 minutes. That means you can travel on the same bus ticket for almost two hours. If you require changing buses for reaching your destination within those 100 minutes, you can do that by using the same bus card. After that duration, the bus ticket will be automatically invalid.

  Documents for University Admissions in Italy

  1. The first document that the visa office requires is your bank statement. This is because it is necessary to prove that you have the financial stability to continue your education for 3 years(in the case of graduation) or 2 years(in the case of masters). The visa office will check if your minimum bank balance is around 400 Euros. If you have that minimum bank balance, you can apply for a course at an Italian university. But in my suggestion, apply for a visa after your bank balance is minimum 1500 Euros. It is because you will not only have to pay the tuition fees but the accommodation costs as well. So make yourself financially secure to thrive in Italy for at least one year without external funding.
  2. You must submit the visa application form. Make sure that all the necessary areas are filled properly. An incomplete application might be straightway rejected. After completing the application form, you have to submit the visa application fee, which is 50 Euros.
  3. You need 2-3 passport size photographs.
  4. You need to submit your latest CV. Here you must mention your academic qualifications, marks obtained, expertise in extracurricular activities, etc.
  5. You must submit the photocopies of all your academic documents. This will include mark sheets and certificates of class 10, 12, graduation as applicable for the course you are applying.
  6. You need two persons who will write really well about you. They must support the fact that you are of good character and have all the good qualities in you. These two persons will be your referees. The designations of these referees must be respectable. They could be government officers, principals, directors, etc.
  You can provide the certificates of any extracurricular activities if applicable. If you have done any social service and received any government certificate or special accolade for it, you can show that too.
  7. Last but not the least, you will have to submit the score of the competitive examinations wherever applicable. For example, if you are going to study a course that requires the knowledge in English Language, then you must have a valid TOEFL or IELTS score. Similarly, if the Italian university in which you are applying has conducted as admission test, then you must submit that score too. After scrutinizing the validity of all these documents, the visa office will give you the D National student visa. As you may understand that checking the validity of all these certificates will take a substantial amount of time. Sometimes this time gap could rise up to 3 months. Don't be disheartened, as this is quite natural. My suggestion is that apply in an Italian university, where the course will start at least 6 months after your application. This will cover the lag between the application in the college, visa application and visa approval.

Italy is located in the Mediterranean Sea. The country shares its borders with two of the beautiful countries in the world, France and Switzerland. The capital of Italy, Rome is known as the Eternal City. Today Christianity one of the primary religions of Rome. In fact, this city is considered to be the home of the Roman Catholic Church. But in ancient Rome, Christianity was almost banned from this city. The Christians were not given any proper status in the society. They could not do business with the other communities of the city. In fact, this city witnessed the most horrifying ritual of feeding the lions with people believing in Christianity. St. Paul, can be considered as the pioneer of Christianity in Rome.
Here is a list of few of the popular universities in Italy and the subjects taught in the corresponding universities.

1. University of Bologna-Subjects taught-Social Sciences is one of the popular subjects taught in Italy. This university offers masters in Social Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Applied Sciences, Law and much more.
2. The Scuola Normale of Pisa--Subjects taught-This institute is popular for teaching Humanities and Natural Sciences. The teachers are encouraged to do research work in their subjects of expertise. They have to delve into a continuous process of learning to be a part of this university.
Politecnico di Milano-Subjects taught-Most of the subjects falling under the discipline of science and technology. This institute trains the students in Industry designing, which is a booming area for career development.The University of Milan-Subjects taught master's courses in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Applied Sciences, Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences.
3. Sapienza University of Rome-Subjects taught-This university mostly provides courses on technology. Courses on Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Aerospace Engineering are provided here. You can also pursue a PhD. course in Aeronautics and Space Engineering.
4. University of Padova-Subjects taught-This has courses in almost every discipline of science. It even provides a master's course in Mathematical Engineering. You will not get such a subject in India. This university is also popular for its courses in Economics.
5. University of Macerata-Subjects taught-This university mainly provides various masters courses in the arts stream. It also provides subsequent doctoral programs in the same genres. So it is advisable that if you are an art student, then enrol in this university right after your graduation. You can complete the master's course and the doctoral program from the same university. The courses offered here are on Economics, Law, Humanities, Literature, Language, etc.