Secondary School Diploma Requirements

To apply for a Bachelor programme at Universita Cattolica, you need to meet the following requirements set by the Italian Ministry for University and Research (MUR):

1. You must finish high school and get your Secondary School Diploma by August 30, 2025.
2. You need to have at least 12 years of education. The last 2 years must be in the school system of the same country.

If you have only 11 years of education, you can still apply if you meet one of these conditions:

1. You completed at least one year of university studies and passed all the required exams. You can’t transfer any credits from these studies.
2. You finished a Foundation Course at an Italian university. Foundation courses from non-Italian universities will be evaluated case by case.
    

Access to university-level studies

Your high school qualification must satisfy the requirements for access to university-level studies in the country the education system refers to.

If you need to pass a special exam to enter university in your country, you must show that you have passed it with the required scores.

Some examples are:

• Selectividad/EBAU in Spain
• Veveossi Prosvassis in Greece
• Vestibular / ENEM in Brazil
• Gao Kao in China
• YKS (TYT and AYT/YDT) in Turkey

 
High School qualifications that must satisfy additional criteria

• International Baccalaureate Diploma
  A full IB Diploma after a minimum of 12 years of schooling is required. Partial IB Certificates are not accepted.
  Before the release of the exam results, all candidates applying with an IB Diploma must send forward their request to the IBO for the IBO to send their final score directly to UCSC. Our institution code is 001623. Please read instructions on how to proceed.
   
• US High School Diploma
  To apply, you need your US high school diploma, and you must also meet one of these additional requirements:
  1. Advanced Placement (AP) Exams: Pass at least 3 AP exams with the College Board in different subjects with a minimum score of 3 on each within the graduation year. If you already passed one or more exams, upload the official AP score report to your application. If you are still at high school and have not taken these exams yet, please fill out the AP exam declaration form and include it with your application.
  2. University Studies: Complete at least one year of academic studies and pass all required credits. Note that you cannot transfer any credits from these studies.
  3. Foundation Course: Complete a Foundation Course at an Italian university. Courses from non-Italian universities will be evaluated case by case.

Important: Your diploma must be obtained after at least 2 years of attending the US education system.

• British qualifications 
  A-levels: you need to obtain at least 3 subjects at Advanced level.  If you have not obtained the A levels yet, please fill out the A-levels declarations and include it with your application. 

Besides the above-listed qualifications, other high school diplomas may need additional requirements. The ARDI database  provides information on the requirements of most national diplomas to access Italian universities. Should your qualification not be listed and you have any questions about its validity, you can contact us. 
 

• IELTS Academic overall score of at least 6.0;
• TOEFL iBT overall score of at least 80;
• TOEFL Computer Based of at least 213:
• TOEFL Paper Based of at least 550;
• Cambridge FCE - First Certificate (Minimum score accepted: Grade B)
• Cambridge CAE – Advanced
• Cambridge CPE - Proficiency 
• A document certifying that they have attended a high school where English is the language of teaching

Applicants whose main language of instruction in High School was English do not need to submit this certificate. In such cases, applicants need to show official proof of the language used in their High School studies.

The English Language Certificate (if applicable) will not be required at the time of applying for the Entrance Exam. However, it will be required as a prerequisite to complete the enrolment process.