Studying at the University of Bologna

The story

The University of Bologna gives 1088 as the founding year of its Studium, the date traditionally celebrated for 150 years. The university says it is considered the oldest university in the Western world.

It was not founded by a king or a group of teachers. Students organised it themselves: they formed associations, set what should be taught and paid their teachers directly.

The Studium's teaching rested on the Corpus Iuris Civilis, the Roman legal text behind much of modern European law. In 1155 Frederick I's Constitutio Habita put students under his protection, free of any political power. Because of its Studium, the city was called La Dotta, the Learned, as early as 1118.

The university today

UniBo reports 97,235 students, 11,302 of them international, with 3,423 lecturers. It is spread over five campuses: Bologna, plus Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna and Rimini in Romagna. It also runs a campus in Buenos Aires.

For 2025/26 the catalogue listed 103 first-cycle, 142 second-cycle and 15 single-cycle degree programs.

We list 9 Bachelor's, 49 Master's and 3 single-cycle degrees at UniBo taught entirely in English.

A selection of them:

• Economics, Politics and Social Sciences
• International Relations
• Artificial Intelligence
• Aerospace Engineering
• Architecture and Creative Practices for the City and Landscape
• International Management

How admission works for international students

Bachelor's and single-cycle. UniBo has no single test: each program's how-to-enrol page names its own. For 2026/27, some economics Bachelor's programs ranked applicants on the SAT, and an engineering program asked for the CISIA CEnT-S in place of the TOLC-I.

Intakes differ by program. For one 2026/27 science Bachelor's, non-EU citizens could apply only in the first intake, through the SAT.

Master's. Each program assesses applicants in its own way. In Economics and Econometrics for 2026/27, a committee scored academic merit up to 70 points and the CV up to 30, and skills counted as adequate at 60 out of 100 or more.

Our SAT guide covers the SAT route and our CEnT-S guide the science test. The admission tests guide compares them.

Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine in English are covered on our Medicine in Italy page.

Fees

Fees for students from outside the EU run from €500 a year up to €3,315 for Medicine and Surgery, depending on the program, the level and your family's income documents. UniBo has a reduced flat fee for families whose income and assets are only outside Italy. For citizens of the countries on its list of particularly poor and developing countries, that reduced amount is the cost: €500 to €700 a year plus €157.04 of regional tax, stamp duty and insurance.

Families can instead declare their foreign income and assets on the regional agency's website (ER.GO), with documents authenticated by the Italian diplomatic authorities or apostilled. Without the flat fee or the income documents, you pay the full amount.

How Learnium helps with UniBo

UniBo's rules change from program to program and from campus to campus. We read the how-to-enrol page of each program you are considering, tell you which test it wants and when, and plan the SAT or CEnT-S sitting with you. For fees, we set the flat fee and the foreign income route side by side so your family can choose, and we plan the legalisation of those income documents against the university's deadline.

Questions students ask about UniBo

Rules, dates and fees change every year. Confirm them in the official call for your own year before you act on them.