NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

Owing to various factors, however, the situation has gradually changed in the last 15 years: at present, entry restrictions apply
to a number of laurea courses, and the trend is to extend them to all overcrowded CL.
Numero chiuso (or programmato) consists in predetermining a maximum number of places available on the basis of the
number of teachers and the scope of existing facilities; since enrollment applications beyond the fixed number must be
rejected, applicants are selected on the basis of their previous study qualifications (e.g. marks obtained in the maturity
examinations), and, if applicable, on the quality of their performance in the entrance examinations for a specific DU or certain
CLs.
Entry requirements for all degree courses are given below, according to the usual division into three levels.
First level studies
Access has always been subject to numerus clausus limitations; the number of available places is determined annually by the
Academic Senate of the individual universities, on the advice of the faculty council concerned.
Admission requirements are therefore as follows:
(a) DU courses
Italian five-year maturità (or an equivalent foreign qualification) plus entrance examinations. Entrance examinations generally
include written tests (usally, multiple choice and/or similar tests) and an oral interview on general education as well as on
subjects more closely related to the DU in question.
(b) SDAFS courses
Italian five-year maturità (or an equivalent foreign qualification) plus entrance examinations, which are generally based on
written tests followed by an oral interview.
(c) Courses for midwives
Since 1957 requirement for admission may be the possession either of a diploma di infermiere professionale (diploma of
professional nurse) ( 1 ) or of a certificate testifying to the completion of the first three years of the CL in medicine and surgery
(legge 23 dicembre 1957, n. 1252).
Second level studies
Laurea courses
The basic admission requirement is the possession of a five-year
maturity diploma or of an equivalent foreign qualification.
As for numerus clausus, at present it is legally in force to regulate access to the following laurea courses:
architecture, dentistry, environmental sciences, international studies, medicine and surgery, veterinary medicine, at both
older and newly-established institutions;
all newly-established CLs at all institutions;
all CLs at recently-established institutions, such as the Università della Calabria, Tor Vergata (Rome II), Rome III,
Naples II, etc.
Entrance examinations for admission to numerus clausus CLs usually
consist of a few written tests followed by an oral interview; they may
vary considerably from one institution to another and from one CL to another.
Third level studies