Nursing, dental hygiene, physiotherapy and the other health-professions Bachelor's degrees in Italy have a limited number of places and a national admission test. Only a handful are taught in English, and their places for students from outside the EU are few. Read the test and the numbers before you choose one. This guide covers the 2026/27 rules and the English-taught programs we found.
Which cycle this covers
The rules below come from Ministerial Decree 1003 of 6 August 2026, which set the 2026/27 test, and the universities' 2026/27 calls. In 2026 the decree came out in August and the test was held in mid-September.
The test
The format is set nationally and looks much like the IMAT for medicine: 60 multiple-choice questions with five options each, answered in 100 minutes.
| Area (2026/27) | Questions |
|---|---|
| Reading skills and knowledge acquired in studies | 4 |
| Logical reasoning and problem solving | 5 |
| Biology | 23 |
| Chemistry | 15 |
| Physics and mathematics | 13 |
- Scoring: 1.5 points for a correct answer, minus 0.4 for a wrong one, 0 for a blank; the maximum is 90.
- Pass mark: any score above zero makes you eligible. Places then go in order of the ranking.
- Who writes it: each university prepares its own paper to the national format, the same for all its health-professions degrees; some, such as Vanvitelli, have CINECA prepare it.
- Two rankings: each university ranks non-EU candidates living abroad separately, for the places reserved for them.
One day, in Italy
For 2026/27 the English test was held on 17 September 2026 at 11:00, at the universities, the day after the Italian one. The decree does not provide for sittings abroad, so a student living outside Italy has to travel for it. Plan the trip early, and any visa you need to make it. Read the call for the deadline to apply: Vanvitelli's closed on 4 September and Parma's on 2 September 2026.
English-taught programs in 2026/27
| University and program | Places, 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Sapienza, Rome: Nursing | 18 EU, 1 for non-EU candidates living abroad |
| Vanvitelli, Naples: Nursing | 10 EU, 10 for non-EU candidates living abroad |
| Palermo: Nursing | Places for EU and non-EU candidates, set in the call |
| Parma: Dental Hygiene | 20 places, of which 8 for non-EU candidates |
Look at the non-EU places before anything else. One place at Sapienza and 10 at Vanvitelli are very different odds for the same test.
- ParmaUniversity of Parma, Dental Hygiene
- RomeSapienza, Nursing
- NaplesVanvitelli, Nursing
- PalermoUniversity of Palermo, Nursing
How to prepare
- Biology and chemistry first. They are 38 of the 60 questions.
- Use IMAT past papers. The section blueprint and scoring match the IMAT's, and the ministry publishes every IMAT paper. They make good timed practice, at a demanding level.
- Practise the guessing decision. With minus 0.4 for a wrong answer, a blind guess among five options is worth almost nothing; ruling out one or two options makes it worth taking.
- Get your English certificate and documents ready early, because the test comes late in the year and leaves little time after it.
If medicine is the real aim, our IMAT guide covers that test, which has its own date and far more places.
Questions applicants ask
Yes, at a few universities. In 2026/27 English-taught Nursing ran at Sapienza, Vanvitelli and Palermo, and Dental Hygiene at Parma, each with a small number of places for non-EU candidates.
For 2026/27, no: the English test was held at the universities in Italy on 17 September 2026.
No. It follows the same blueprint and scoring, but it is a separate test on a different day, prepared by each university, and it does not give access to medicine.
Any score above zero makes you eligible for 2026/27; whether you get a place depends on your position in the ranking and the number of places.
Count the non-EU places before you choose
Tell us your program, and a mentor will reply in the chat with its non-EU places and how to plan the September trip.
Sources
Rules change every year: always confirm dates in the official call for your year.