FAQs for International Students

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 exchange office. The first step is to contact the coordinator at your university.

Alternatively, if your university does not have an exchange agreement with Luiss, you may consider enrolling in individual courses (corsi singoli). For more details, please see our website instructions on how to Register for a single course.

You can also enroll in a full degree programme. To do so, please read the information available on the website:

• Undergraduate admissions
• Graduate admissions

The university’s structure is based on the Bologna system, offering standard consecutive degrees alongside specialized single-cycle tracks:

• Undergraduate School
  • Undergraduate studies (bachelor’s): Three-year bachelor’s degree programs (180 ECTS credits).
  • Single Cycle Degree Program in Law: A five-year single-cycle program (300 ECTS credits) housed directly within the Undergraduate School.
• Graduate School
  • Graduate studies (master’s): Two-year master’s degree programs (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 English-language courses. You can find courses in English at this link: Courses available to Erasmus / Exchange students.

Please refer to the Online Applications, Procedures and Deadlines webpage.

Incoming Erasmus and bilateral exchange students are exempt from tuition fees. These students are admitted on a tuition-fee-free basis.

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 will not need to submit an official language test score.

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

For our partner universities with which we have not agreed a waiver of the language certificate requirement, we will require proof of English and/or Italian language proficiency in order to study at Luiss. 

Non-native speakers of English and/or Italian should provide the following proof 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 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 your exchange semester at Luiss.

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

Syllabi, schedules, and enrolment isntructions are shared with incoming students via email.

Students who successfully pass the course (graded out of 30) will receive a certificate for their work at the end of the course. Students will also gain 3 ECTS credits for each course. 

The exchange process involves two distinct deadlines:

• Nomination by your Home University: Your home coordinator must officially nominate you to Luiss between 1 April 1 and 8 May. Please check with your home university’s international office early to find out their internal selection deadlines. 
• Online Student Application: Once Luiss receives your nomination, you will be sent an access token to complete your online application. The hard deadline to submit your application and upload your documents is May 15. 

NB: Luiss does not accept a second round of nominations or applications for the Spring semester later in the year. Only a few exceptions—pre-arranged with our partner institutions—are permitted.

In late May, once the application forms have been processed, the International Student Mobility Office will email incoming students an acceptance letter containing practical information.

NB: Please note that Luiss does not accept a second round of selected students for the Spring Semester after the summer break. Only a few exceptions—pre-arranged with our partner institutions—are permitted. In this case, students will receive their acceptance letters in late October.

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

The Orientation program includes:

• An information session
• A dedicated information session for students requiring a residence permit
• A welcome cocktail reception
• A campus tour

Course offerings are available on this website.

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

Provided you meet the necessary prerequisites and have no scheduling conflicts, exchange students have access to all bachelor’s and master’s level courses. 

For the master’s degree in law, the first three years of study are equivalent to the bachelor’s level, while years four and five are master's level.

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

Yes, full-time course attendance is mandatory. 

Courses in the following programs are not open to Incoming Exchange Students:

• School of Government programmes
• School of Journalism programmes
• School of Law programmes 
• All one-year master’s programmes
• Postgraduate and PhD courses
• Luiss Business School and MBA programmes 
• Language courses other than Italian

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

While this falls under the responsibility of the home institution, exchange students must take at least one course.

You can reach the Accommodation Office at housing@luiss.it. 

Details about housing options for incoming students are available here.

Incoming exchange students (and mandatory for Erasmus+ students) typically need to complete a Learning Agreement (LA) to ensure their course selections are officially recognised by their home university.

The process happens in two stages:

• Before Arrival: You must submit an initial Learning Agreement, approved by your home university’s coordinator, before you arrive at Luiss.
• After Arrival: If necessary, you may update your LA after arrival, once your study plan is confirmed following the add/drop period. Please note that you have one week from the start of the semester to make any final course changes or additions. After this one-week deadline, you can only drop 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, email your signed document to in_erasmusexchange@luiss.it.

For detailed instructions, please visit the Learning Agreement for Incoming Students section on our website.

Course schedules are available here. Follow these steps:

1. Click on ‘Class schedule’
2. Select ‘Search your timetable by course’
3. Enter the course name
4. Choose first day of classes as the start date
5. Click ‘View timetable’

To add more courses, click on ‘+ Show/hide search parameters’, enter additional course names, and click ‘View timetable’ again.

Note: Make sure to review the schedule for the first two weeks, as it may differ from the opening week

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

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

After the orientation session, we will send a signed Certificate of Arrival to all students who attend.

If your home university requires a specific form, you have two options:

• Bring the form to the International Student Mobility Office for signature
• Or email it to in_erasmusexchange@luiss.it, and we will return it to you with our signature

The tax code generated in the Luiss Web Self-Service is unofficial and used only for internal registration.

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

You can collect the yellow kit (used to apply for your residence permit) at most Italian post offices, at the ‘Sportello Amico’ counter.

Additionally, Luiss typically hosts a dedicated session the day after orientation to help students complete the application. Details about the time and location are shared by email. Kits are distributed for free during this session (while supplies last).

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

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

They organise:

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

For more information, contact: board@esnromaluiss.net 

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

Each semester, there are at least two exam opportunities, known as appelli, for all courses. Full details regarding the academic calendar are available on the Luiss website.

Every semester features two distinct examination periods. The second period officially marks the end of the academic term, but exchange students have complete flexibility in how they manage their schedule. You can choose to take all of your exams in the first period, 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 only one exam opportunity per course is offered during the First Examination Period. Because exam dates and times may overlap—particularly for students taking courses across different years, academic programs, or study levels—it may not be possible to sit all required exams during the first period. In the event of a scheduling conflict, students will need to take their remaining exams during the Second Examination Period.

The official dates for all examinations are published around one month after the start of each semester, and exams can only be taken on these designated dates. Incoming exchange students will take their assessments under the exact same conditions as regular students.

Furthermore, students are not authorized to arrange individual exam dates with their professors. You must make travel arrangements that align strictly with the official examination periods.

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

To take any exam at Luiss, you must officially register for it online through your Web Self-Service platform. Registration is mandatory for every exam session, known as an appello, and cannot be handled directly with your professors.

The registration window typically opens a few weeks before the exam date and generally closes strictly five days before the test takes place. It is highly recommended that you check the exact deadlines on your portal as soon as the exam calendar is published, as late registrations are generally not permitted by the administrative system.

Once you log into the platform, navigate to the Available examination dates section, select the specific course and the desired date from the available options, and confirm your booking. After successfully completing the process, you will receive a confirmation message, which serves as your proof of registration for the examination day.

In the Italian university system, individual courses are graded on a scale from 18 to 30. The minimum passing grade required to earn academic credits for any course is 18. For students who demonstrate exceptional performance and an outstanding mastery of the material, professors may award the maximum grade of 30 cum laude, which translates to 30 with honours. 

Any performance evaluated below the grade of 18 is officially considered a failure. In accordance with university policy, failing grades are completely omitted from your academic record and will not be registered on your final transcript. If you do not pass a course, it will simply appear as if the exam attempt never occurred, allowing you the opportunity to sit the assessment again during a later official date.

If you fail an exam, you can generally retake it during the next available examination date (appello) within the same or subsequent exam session, provided another date is scheduled for that course.

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

Additionally, it is highly recommended to check the specific syllabus for your course or consult with your professor. In some departments or specific courses, rules regarding immediate retakes may vary, and professors will clarify if there are any restrictions on registering for consecutive dates.

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

Because failing grades are not registered, they will not appear on your final Transcript of Records, and no credits will be awarded for that course. If you do not pass an assessment, the attempt is simply omitted from your record, and you can choose to retake the exam during a subsequent official date. 

You may request your Confirmation of Stay to be signed in one of the following ways:

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

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

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

To check your exam registration status, please log into Web Self-Service and navigate to:
Home → List of Examinations
If a grade is visible, it means the exam has been registered. Only at that point you may request the Confirmation of Stay.

Official transcripts of records are sent directly from Luiss to your home partner university according to a fixed schedule depending on your mobility period.

For students attending the Fall Semester, the timeline is determined by when you complete your assessments. If you finish all of your exams within the First Examination Period, your transcript will be issued and sent in early February. For all other students who utilize the later exam windows, the transcripts are processed and dispatched in early March. 

For students who are attending during the Spring Semester or completing a Full Year exchange, all transcripts are compiled and sent to your home institution in mid-July.

Please note that, in accordance with university policy, official transcripts are sent exclusively to institutional partners and are not issued directly to students. If you require a copy of your transcript for your personal records, please contact the study abroad or international office at your home university, as they will be able to provide it to you once it has been received.

If you urgently need your Transcript of Records earlier, you may request it through the Student Office by following the instructions on this website. Please note that this procedure requires the payment of two duty stamps (marca da bollo) for a total of €32.

Before submitting the request, ensure that all your results are visible in your List of Examinations — otherwise, they will not be included in the document.

No, Italian Language Courses are managed independently from the regular academic curriculum and will not appear on your official Transcript of Records or within your Web Self-Service.

If you successfully completed the course, a separate Italian Language Certificate will be issued and sent directly to your home university alongside your final documents.

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