University of Milan (La Statale)
The University of Milan — known locally as "La Statale" to distinguish it from the city's other public universities — was founded in 1924, built by merging an existing academic institute with the city's clinical-medicine schools. It's Milan's comprehensive public university: law, humanities, medicine, sciences, veterinary medicine, and agriculture all run alongside each other, unlike Politecnico's engineering-and-design focus or Bocconi's economics specialism.
- City
- Milan
- Type
- Public university
- Official site
- Visit website
- Admissions
- How to apply
About the university
It's the only Italian member of LERU, the League of European Research Universities — a 21-member group of Europe's most research-intensive universities — and counts a Nobel laureate physicist and a Fields Medal-winning mathematician among its alumni. Today it's one of Italy's largest universities, with around 60,000 students across nine faculties.
Its scale gives an incoming student real depth in almost any subject, a large and long-established international exchange network, and a genuinely research-driven academic culture — though, like any large comprehensive university, it takes a bit more navigating than a smaller, single-focus institution.
Admission for international students generally runs through the standard route: Universitaly pre-enrolment, a Declaration of Value or CIMEA comparability statement for your prior qualification, and — depending on faculty — an entrance test or a language requirement if you're studying in Italian.
See the Milan city guide for what studying here actually costs and looks like day to day — rent by neighbourhood, getting around, and settling in.
Living in Milan
Rent, transport, and settling in
How applying here works
- 1
Universitaly pre-enrolment
Your application to Italy, filed on the government portal.
- 2
Declaration of Value or CIMEA
Your prior qualification, made readable to an Italian university.
- 3
Entrance test or language check
Where the faculty asks for one — this is what preparation is for.
We walk you through each step inside the portal. How the application service works, or see the full 20-step journey.