Milano-Bicocca is Milan's youngest public university, established in 1998 specifically to relieve an overcrowded University of Milan, which had swelled to roughly 90,000 students at the time. Rather than a slow, organic institution, it was built deliberately and quickly, on the former Pirelli industrial site in the north of the city — an integrated university, research, and housing district redeveloped by architect Vittorio Gregotti.
That newness shows up in how it's run as much as how it looks: Times Higher Education ranked it Italy's #1 (and 21st worldwide) university under 50 years old in 2014, and it now takes in around 2,200 international students a year, supported by roughly 100 dedicated Bicocca International Scholarships across its English-taught programmes (a B2 English level is required to apply).
It teaches across sciences, medicine, economics, sociology, law, and psychology — a genuinely comprehensive range, built from scratch rather than inherited faculty by faculty, which gives it a more modern campus and facilities than many older Italian universities working with historic buildings.
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 programme — an entrance test, language requirement, or the university's own online application portal for its English-taught tracks.
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
Universitaly pre-enrolment
Your application to Italy, filed on the government portal.
Declaration of Value or CIMEA
Your prior qualification, made readable to an Italian university.
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 21-step journey.
