NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

The Diploma di ISEF is a purely academic qualification. In order to be entitled to teach physical education in state or legallyrecognised
schools, its holders have to pass the relevant State examination (esame di abilitazione all’insegnamento) at the
required level.
II.3.2. Final university qualifications
First university level
(a) Diploma universitario (since 1992)
The final qualification awarded on completion of a newly-established DU course is called diploma universitario (university
diploma) ( 1 ): it is a first level university degree comparable to the majority of European as well as overseas first degrees.
Most university courses leading to DUs cover a three-year period. They may therefore be regarded as pertaining to the
category of short-cycle university studies.
There are a few exceptions to the above definition: as a matter of fact, some DU courses require as special entry condition the
successful completion of the preliminary two-year period of a specific laurea course, or even the possession of the specific
laurea itself (e.g. the university diploma conferred by the special school for archivists and librarians of the La Sapienza
University in Rome). In such cases — the whole period of university studies covering four years at least — the university
diploma can no longer be classified as a short cycle qualification: it is rather the second stage of a longer, more complex
educational itinerary resulting in a professional degree at second academic level.
Back to proper DUs (i.e. first level degrees, open to holders of the maturity diploma), they may be divided into two main
categories in relation to connected CLs: DUs belonging to the first can be described as ‘in series’ courses, the others as ‘in
parallel’ courses.
Holders of a diploma from ‘in series’ DUs are entitled to enter the labour market, or, if they choose, to pursue higher
academic studies by joining a related laurea course with full recognition of their DU (e.g. the two-year DU in statistics allows
admission to the third year of the CL in
statistics).
Holders of a so-called ‘in parallel’ DU may also pass on to a related CL but with only partial recognition of their previous
studies.
The university diploma in a specific sector is conferred on the student who has complied with all the connected legal
obligations: therefore, he or she must have regularly attended all subject courses, successfully passed the corresponding
examinations, satisfactorily completed — if that is the case — the practical training; finally, he or she may also have to
undertake a project or to carry out some research work, whose written report (tesi) is to be defended in the final diploma
examination.
As for the assessment of a student’s performance, the same grading systems are employed as in the case of CLs (0-30, with
18/30 and 30/30 as the minimum and the maximum passing grades for subject examinations; 0-110, with minimum 66/110 to
maximum 110/110 passing grades for the diploma examination).
DU holders have a right to the title of diplomato (universitario) in... (the name of the specific field follows).
So far, DUs have juridical validity as academic qualifications, which means that they are just the basic requirements for
access to certain employment or professions at intermediate level; all necessary conditions for transition to work have not yet
been fully defined.
(b) Diploma universitario delle SDAFS