The finish line
How you graduate in Italy
An Italian degree ends with a formal graduation — a seduta di laurea — but there's a run of admin to clear first, on the session's deadlines. What's below is the shape most students follow; each university sets its own dates and details in its regolamento, so read yours alongside this.
The sequence
- 1
Finish your exams and credits
Pass every remaining exam and reach the total crediti formativi universitari (CFU) your programme requires. Your career record has to be clean and complete before the graduation office will accept your application.
- 2
Agree a supervisor and register your thesis
Settle a topic with a relatore (supervising professor), then file the thesis title with your department. Most universities want this done a term or two before the session you plan to graduate in.
- 3
Apply to graduate
Submit the domanda di laurea for a specific graduation session through your student portal, by that session's deadline. You pay the stamp duty (imposta di bollo) on the application, and at some universities a separate graduation contribution.
- 4
Complete the AlmaLaurea questionnaire
Most Italian universities belong to the AlmaLaurea consortium and make its graduate-profile survey a condition of graduating. You fill it in online and attach the receipt to your file.
- 5
Upload your thesis
Submit the final PDF, plus any supervisor-approval form, by the upload deadline — usually a couple of weeks before the session. Late uploads roll you to the next session.
- 6
The thesis defence — or not
For most magistrale and single-cycle degrees you present and defend the thesis to a commission, which then deliberates and awards a mark out of 110, with lode possible. Many three-year laurea triennale programmes have no defence at all — the degree is awarded on your weighted exam average plus a shorter prova finale.
- 7
Proclamation and the ceremony
The commission reads out your final mark and proclaims you dottore or dottoressa. Some universities do this the same day in the same room; others hold a separate robed cerimonia di proclamazione later in the year.
Your mark, and what it's out of
Italian degree marks are given out of 110. The commission starts from your weighted exam average converted to that scale, then adds points for the thesis, the presentation, graduating on time, and any Erasmus or published work — the exact bonuses are set by each department. 110 with lode is the top result, at the commission's unanimous discretion. There's no separate pass or fail at this stage: if your exams are done and the thesis is accepted, you graduate.
What comes after
Graduating doesn't end your permesso di soggiorno — it's the point where a student permit starts converting into something else: a job-seeking permit, then work, then EU long-term residence. That sequence has its own timing and paperwork, laid out in the residency pathway.