FAQ for international students – Frequently Asked Questions

If your university has an agreement with Luiss Guido Carli under the Erasmus+ Programme or another bilateral exchange agreement, you can apply through your institution’s student mobility office. The first step is to contact your university's coordinator.

Alternatively, if your university doesn't have an exchange agreement with Luiss, you can consider enrolling in individual courses. For more details, check out the instructions on our website on how to take a single course.

You can also enrol on a full degree programme. To do this, please refer to the information available on the website:

• Admission to Bachelor's and Single-Cycle Master's Degrees in Law
• Admission to Luiss Master's Degree Programmes 

The university's structure follows the Bologna system, offering standard consecutive degree programmes alongside specialised single-cycle courses:

• Undergraduate School
  • Undergraduate studies (bachelor's): Three-year degree programmes (180 ECTS credits).
  • Single-Cycle Master's Degree in Law: A five-year single-cycle programme (300 ECTS credits) integrated directly within the Undergraduate School.
• Graduate School
  • Master’s studies: Two-year master’s degree programmes (120 ECTS credits).

• Artificial Intelligence / Data Science
• Business
• Economics
• Finance
• International Relations
• Law
• Management
• Marketing
• Political Science

At Luiss, the main languages of instruction are Italian and English. We offer over 600 courses in English. You can find the courses in English at this link: Courses available for Erasmus / Exchange students

Please refer to the Procedures and Deadlines for Online Applications page.

Incoming Erasmus and bilateral exchange students are exempt from paying university fees. These students are admitted with exemption from fees.

For most of our partner universities, student exchange agreements are based on mutual trust. This means your home institution can certify your language proficiency, and you won't need to submit an official language test score.

However, students selected for an exchange should have at least a B2 proficiency level in English or Italian, depending on the language of the courses they wish to take.

For our partner universities with which we have not agreed on an exemption from the language certificate requirement, we will ask for proof of proficiency in English and/or Italian to study at Luiss. 

Non-native speakers of English and/or Italian should provide one of the following proofs of proficiency:

• For English, one of the following certificates:
  • IELTS: 6.0 or higher
  • TOEFL iBT: 86 / 4.5 or higher
  • Cambridge First/Advanced/Proficiency: minimum overall score of 173
• For Italian, one of the following certificates:
  • CELI 3 (B2)
  • CILS DUE (B2)
  • PLIDA (B2)

All language certificates (for English or Italian) must not be older than two years from the start of the exchange semester at Luiss.

Luiss offers Italian language courses in both semesters of each year to incoming students who have been admitted to Luiss Guido Carli University as part of an exchange programme (Erasmus+ or Bilateral Agreement). These courses are open only to incoming students from partner universities and are free of charge. 

Syllabuses, timetables, and enrolment instructions are shared with incoming students via email.

Students who successfully pass the course (assessed out of thirty) will receive a certificate for their work upon completion. Students will also earn three ECTS credits for each course.

The exchange process has two distinct deadlines:

• Nomination by your home university: Your home coordinator must officially nominate you to Luiss between 1 April and 8 May. Please check the internal selection deadlines with your home university's international relations office in advance.
• Student Online Application: Once Luiss receives your nomination, you will be sent an access token to complete the online application. The final deadline for submitting your application and uploading documents is 15 May. 

Please note: Luiss does not accept a second round of nominations or applications for the spring semester later in the year. Only a few exceptions are allowed — agreed in advance with our partner institutions.

At the end of May, once the applications have been processed, the International Student Mobility Office will email incoming students a letter of acceptance with practical information.

NB: Please note that Luiss does not accept a second round of students selected for the second semester after the summer holidays. Only a few exceptions are allowed, and these must be agreed in advance with our partner institutions. In this case, students will receive their acceptance letter at the end of October.

Students are required to arrive in time for the mandatory orientation session. Key dates and the Academic Calendar are published on this page, and specific mandatory arrival dates will be included in the acceptance letter.

The Orientation Programme includes:

• An information session
• An information session specifically for students who require a residence permit
• A welcome cocktail
• A campus tour

The range of courses is available on this website.

Course descriptions can be found on Cattedre Online. To search on Cattedre Online, type in the name of the lecturer or the subject and click to search.

Provided they meet the necessary prerequisites and have no timetable clashes, exchange students have access to all undergraduate and master's degree courses. 

For the master's degree in law, the first three years of study are equivalent to a bachelor's degree, while the fourth and fifth years are at the master's level.

Incoming exchange students can enrol in courses across all disciplines, academic years, and levels (both undergraduate and master's), provided they meet the necessary prerequisites outlined in the syllabuses.

Yes, full-time course attendance is compulsory.

Courses on the following programmes are not open to Incoming Exchange Students:

• Programmes at the School of Government
• Programmes at the School of Journalism
• Programmes of the School of Law
• All one-year master's courses
• Postgraduate and doctoral (PhD) courses
• Luiss Business School programmes and MBAs
• Language courses other than Italian

The average workload for a Luiss student is around 30 ECTS credits per semester, including language courses.

Exchange students are required to take at least one course; however, this is the responsibility of their home institution.

You can contact the Residences Office at housing@luiss.it. 

Details on accommodation options for incoming students are available here.

Incoming exchange students (and this is mandatory for Erasmus+ students) generally need to complete a Learning Agreement (LA) to ensure their course choices are officially recognised by their home university. The process unfolds in two stages:

• Before arrival: You must submit an initial Learning Agreement, approved by the coordinator at your home university, prior to arriving at Luiss.
• After arrival: If necessary, you can update your LA after arrival, once your study plan has been confirmed following the add/drop period. Please note that you have one week from the start of the semester to make any final changes or additions to your courses. After this one-week period, you can only withdraw from courses; you cannot add or change them.

How to submit it:

• Digital (EWP): If your home university is connected to the Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) platform, your LA will be processed digitally.
• Email: If your university is not on EWP, please send the signed document by email to in_erasmusexchange@luiss.it.

For detailed instructions, please visit the Learning Agreement section for incoming students on our website.

Course timetables are available here. Follow these steps:

1. Click on “Class timetable”
2. Select “Search for class timetables by course”
3. Enter the course name
4. Choose the first day of classes as the start date 
5. Click on “Show timetable”

To add more courses, click on “+ Show/hide search parameters”, enter the names of the additional courses, and click on “Show timetable” again.

Note: Make sure you check the timetable for the first two weeks, as it may differ from that of the opening week.

Not immediately. During the first week of classes, you'll be able to review and make changes to your study plan during the add/drop period. 

If no changes are made during that period, your study plan will be considered final.

After the orientation session, we will send a signed Certificate of Arrival to all participating students. If your home university requires a specific form, you have two options: 

• Take the form to the International Student Mobility Office for signing
• Or send it by email to in_erasmusexchange@luiss.it, and we'll return it signed

The tax code generated in the Luiss Web Self-Service is not official and is used solely for internal registration purposes. 

To request an official Italian tax code, please follow the instructions available on our website here.

You can pick up the yellow kit (used to apply for a residence permit) at most Italian post offices, at the “Sportello Amico” counter. 

In addition, Luiss typically organises a dedicated session the day after the orientation to help students complete the application. Details on the time and location will be shared via email. Kits are distributed free of charge during this session (while stocks last).

Instructions on how to fill it out are available on our website, in the After Arrival section.

Yes! ESN Roma Luiss (Erasmus Student Network) supports exchange students before, during, and after their mobility experience. They organise:

• Mentor/Buddy Programmes
• Welcome Week & Orientation events
• Cultural activities and trips
• Language exchange programmes and social events

For more information, please contact: board@esnromaluiss.net 

For any IT issues, please contact our IT support team at supportoit@luiss.it.

There are at least two exam opportunities, known as exam sessions, for all courses each semester. Full details of the academic calendar are available on the Luiss website.

There are two separate exam sessions each semester. The second session officially marks the end of the academic term, but exchange students have complete flexibility in managing their schedule. You can choose to take all your exams in the first session, complete them all in the second, or split them between the two, which is the most common approach among Luiss students. Many exchange students prefer to complete their assessments early, during the first window. 

However, please note that there is only one exam opportunity per course during the First Exam Session. As exam dates and times may overlap — particularly for students taking courses in different years, on different academic programmes, or at different levels of study — it may not be possible to take all required exams during the first session. If timetables overlap, students will need to take their remaining exams during the Second Examination Session. 

The official dates for all exams are published about a month after the start of each semester, and exams can only be taken on these set dates. Incoming students will take assessments under exactly the same conditions as regular students. Furthermore, students are not permitted to arrange individual exam dates with their lecturers. Travel must be arranged to coincide precisely with the official exam sessions. 

Finally, the exact date of the last exam taken will be officially recorded to verify attendance for certification purposes.

To take any exam at Luiss, you must officially register online via the Self-Service web platform. Registration is mandatory for each exam session, known as an 'appello', and cannot be arranged directly with lecturers. 

The registration period generally opens a few weeks before the exam date and closes strictly five days before the exam takes place. We strongly recommend checking the exact deadlines on your portal as soon as the exam calendar is published, as the administrative system generally does not allow late registrations. 

Once you've logged in to the platform, navigate to the Available Sitting section, select the specific course and your preferred date from the available options, and confirm your booking. Once you've successfully completed the process, you'll receive a confirmation message that serves as proof of registration for the exam day.

In the Italian university system, individual courses are graded on a scale from 18 to 30. The minimum pass mark required to earn academic credits for any course is 18. For students who demonstrate exceptional preparation and an excellent command of the subject, lecturers can award the maximum grade of 30 with honours. 

Any performance rated below 18 is officially considered insufficient. In accordance with university regulations, failing grades are completely omitted from the student's academic record and will not appear on the final Transcript of Records. If you fail a course, it will simply appear as if the exam attempt never took place, giving you the opportunity to retake the assessment on a later official date.

If you don't pass an exam, you can usually retake it on the first available exam date (sitting) within the same session or the next one, provided there's another date scheduled for that course. 

Please note that you must register online for the new exam date via the Self-Service web platform before the registration deadline. 

Furthermore, it is strongly recommended that you check the specific course syllabus or consult the lecturer. In some departments or specific courses, the rules for immediate resits may vary, and lecturers will clarify if there are any restrictions on registering for consecutive exam sessions.

In the Italian university system, individual courses are graded on a scale of 1 to 30, with a minimum passing grade of 18. Any grade below 18 is officially considered a fail and cannot be recorded in your academic record. 

As failing grades are not recorded, they will not appear on the final Transcript of Records, and no credit will be awarded for that course. If you don't pass an assessment, the attempt is simply omitted from your academic record, and you can choose to retake the exam on a later official date. 

You can request the signing of your Confirmation of Stay in one of the following ways:

• By email: in_erasmusexchange@luiss.it 
• In person: at the International Student Mobility office

The date of your final exam will be recorded as the official end of your mobility period. 

Please note that, for verification purposes, the certificate can only be signed once all exam results have been officially recorded. 

To check the registration status of your exams, log in to the Web Self-Service and navigate to: 
Home → Transcript. 
If the grade is visible, it means the exam has been registered. Only then can you apply for the Certificate of Stay.

Luiss sends official transcripts of records directly to the partner university of origin, following a fixed schedule that depends on the mobility period. 

For students attending the Fall Semester, the timing depends on when assessments are completed. If all exams are completed by the First Examination Session, the certificate will be issued and sent in early February. For all other students taking subsequent exam sessions, certificates are processed and dispatched in early March.

For students attending the Spring Semester or completing a Full Year exchange, all certificates are prepared and sent to the home institution in mid-July. 

Please note that, in accordance with university regulations, official certificates are sent exclusively to partner institutions and are not issued directly to students. If you need a copy of the transcript for your personal records, please contact the mobility or international relations office at your home university. They will be able to provide it once they receive it.

If you urgently need your Transcript of Records in advance, you can request it through the Student Administration Office by following the instructions on this website. Please note that this procedure requires payment of two revenue stamps, totalling €32. 

Before submitting your request, make sure all your results are visible in your Record Book – otherwise, they won't be included in the document.

No, the Italian language courses are managed separately from the standard academic curriculum and will not appear on the official Transcript of Records or in the Web Self-Service. 

If you successfully complete the course, a separate Italian language certificate will be issued and sent directly to your home university along with the final documents.

You can find comprehensive information on our webpage for incoming students here.