Building your path to Europe
Indian students can fund study in Italy through regional DSU scholarships, MAECI Italian government grants, university merit awards and programme-linked schemes such as Invest Your Talent in Italy. This guide explains who offers each option, who can apply, and how the scholarship process fits around admission and the student visa.
Last updated: September 2026
Scholarship rules change every academic year. Figures and dates below come from the verified 2026/27 calls linked throughout and are labelled as such — for any other year, the current call on the official portal (regional agency, university or the MAECI Study in Italy portal) is the only final source. No scholarship can be promised in advance.
Your options
Four different kinds of organisations fund international students in Italy. They differ in who decides, what they assess and how you apply.
Funding that follows the region, not the country. Italy's right-to-study system leaves each region to run its own student-aid agency, so you apply where you enrol. Support can mix cash with meals and housing help, while rules, income bands and dates are set afresh in every regional call.
One national call issued each year by Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. It names the eligible study levels, the eligible nationalities — India featured on the 2026-2027 list — and a single fixed deadline, with applications only on the Study in Italy portal.
Awards decided inside each university's own admissions process to attract strong profiles — fee waivers, reductions or yearly allowances. Padua's 2026/27 International Excellence Scholarships for English-taught programmes are one verified instance; every other institution defines its own.
Funding built into a named programme rather than a standalone grant: Invest Your Talent in Italy pairs a Master's-level course with a mandatory company internship for applicants from a set list of countries that includes India. Offered year by year, not permanently.
Need- and merit-based
Every Italian region runs its own student-aid agency and publishes its own annual call. The pattern below holds broadly, but amounts, thresholds and dates differ by region and year.
Regional agencies for the right to study (diritto allo studio) — for example, DSU Toscana for students at the universities of Florence, Pisa and Siena. Apply to the agency of the region where your university is located, through that agency's own portal and call.
Economic eligibility is assessed on family income and assets (the ISEE/ISPE indicators for students whose finances are in Italy, or equivalent documented evidence for families abroad), while merit is checked against credits and enrolment status. As a labelled example, the DSU Toscana 2026/27 call set thresholds of ISEE €27,000 and ISPE €60,000 — other regions and years set their own.
Typically a money component plus services: free or subsidised meals, accommodation subject to availability for out-of-town students, and exemption from the regional study tax. The cash amount varies with economic band and whether you are classified as in-town, commuter or out-of-town — no fixed national figure exists. See how these offsets fit the full cost of studying in Italy.
Each region sets its own window. For reference, DSU Toscana accepted 2026/27 degree-course applications online from 20 July to 7 September 2026, with a separate window for PhD and specialisation students. Awards are annual — you reapply every year and must keep meeting the economic and merit requirements.
Ordinary 2026/27 windows below have closed and are shown as published reference points for the regions most represented in our university listing. For students applying from India, the documentation route can differ from Italian-resident students; check the regional call for foreign-income documentation and ISEE Parificato requirements.
| Region | DSU authority | 2026/27 timing | International note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emilia-Romagna | ER.GO | 23 June – 24 Aug 2026, 16:00 (closed) | Translated, legalised foreign-income documents via the Dossier Utente. |
| Piedmont | EDISU Piemonte | 22 July – 4 Sept 2026, 12:00 (closed) | ISEE Parificato route in the 2026/27 call; temporary access code where no SPID. |
| Lazio | DiSCo | 10 June – 23 July 2026, closed 11 Aug 2026 (closed) | ISEEUP at an affiliated CAF by 10 Dec 2026; residence-permit uploads for extra-EU students. |
| Veneto · Padua | University of Padua | All steps by 30 Sept 2026 (per 2026/27 call) | ISEE Parificato accepted via an affiliated CAF. |
Open Semester exception, kept separate from the ordinary windows above: ER.GO reopens applications 10 Feb – 15 Mar 2027 for Italian-language semestre-filtro students (LM-41/LM-46/LM-42) with its own rules and rankings.
Verify current regional rules on the official pages, for example the DSU Toscana scholarship call and its guidance for foreign students.
Italian government grants
Grants from Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), governed by an annual call. Below is the verified 2026-2027 position — future calls may differ.
MAECI offers the grants to foreign students and Italians resident abroad to promote cultural, scientific and technological cooperation. Selection is run by citizenship, and applications are accepted exclusively through the official Study in Italy portal — nowhere else.
Under the 2026-2027 call: Master's degrees, AFAM (fine arts, music and dance), PhDs, research projects, and three-month intensive Italian language and culture courses. Bachelor's and single-cycle degrees were eligible only for renewals under the “Costruiamo il futuro” provision. Only onsite attendance in Italy is covered.
India appeared on the official 2026-2027 eligible-countries list, and the Embassy of Italy in New Delhi published the call for resident applicants. The nine-month grants ran from 1 November 2026 to 31 July 2027, with a total of €10,800 per the official call, paid in instalments conditional on presence in Italy, enrolment and academic progress. Nationality eligibility is reset in each annual call, so re-check it every year.
Online applications for 2026-2027 closed at 14:00 Italian time on 26 March 2026. If you are targeting a later intake, watch the Study in Italy portal for the next annual call and prepare your passport, qualifications and language evidence in advance.
Official sources: the MAECI scholarships page, the 2026-2027 call (English PDF), the Study in Italy FAQ and the Embassy of Italy in New Delhi notice.
Merit-based
Individual universities reward strong applicants with waivers, reductions or cash awards. Because each institution writes its own call, always verify the current edition on the university's official site.
For 2026/27, Padua offered up to 69 Excellence Scholarships — one per English-taught degree programme — plus up to 30 further departmental awards. Each combined a tuition fee-waiver with an €8,000 annual allowance. Eligible applicants held non-Italian citizenship and a foreign entry qualification, did not already reside in Italy, and applied to an English-taught programme; eligible students were considered automatically with no separate scholarship form, and renewal depended on earning the required credits. See the University's official scholarships page and the official 2026/27 call (PDF) behind the figures above.
Shortlist universities first — for example through our universities in Italy listing — then check each institution's official fees, funding and admissions pages for its current merit calls. Note the pattern in the Padua example: awards usually cannot be combined with other public grants, and keeping them requires academic progress.
Also check Invest Your Talent in Italy — Master's-level courses plus a compulsory company internship for students from selected countries including India — on the official current call page.
Are you eligible?
Exact requirements live in each call, but most schemes check some combination of the following.
Enrolment, an offer, or at least a submitted university application, as the specific call requires.
Transcripts, degree certificates or school leaving results proving you qualify for the programme level.
ISEE/ISPE documentation or translated, legalised family income and asset records where the scheme is need-based.
A valid passport and, for non-EU applicants, the identity documents the call specifies.
Proof of English or Italian at the required level where the programme or call demands it.
Citizenship or residence rules, no prior enrolment conditions, incompatibility with other grants, and renewal credit targets.
Step by step
Scholarship, admission and visa steps run on separate tracks. Follow them in this order so nothing is missed.
The admission track is covered in our Italy university admission guide, and course choice starts with our courses in Italy listing.
Paperwork
Three different document piles serve three different decisions. Do not assume one set covers everything.
Qualifications, transcripts, passport, language evidence and programme-specific items such as portfolios or test results — whatever the university's own call asks for.
The scholarship form itself plus whatever that call demands: declarations, acceptance forms, bank details for payment, or progress certificates for renewals. Each call lists its own.
Required only where the scheme is need-based: ISEE/ISPE certification or, for families abroad, translated and legalised proof of family composition, income and assets. Merit-only awards do not ask for these.
How the pieces connect
Four related but separate processes. Winning one does not complete the others.
Scholarship application — submitted to the regional agency, the university or MAECI on its own timeline. Awaiting its result should never delay your admission or visa steps.
University admission — the academic decision. Most scholarships assume you are admitted or enrolling, so treat admission as the foundation; see the admission guide.
Universitaly pre-enrolment — after admission, visa-seeking students submit pre-enrolment on the official Universitaly portal. It is independent of any scholarship outcome.
Student visa — decided by the competent Italian authorities on admission, pre-enrolment and supporting evidence. A scholarship helps your financial picture but does not replace any visa requirement; details are in the student visa guide and visa checklists.
Timing
There is no single scholarship deadline. Verified 2026/27 reference points are below — amounts, eligibility and dates are reset every year, so everything else must be taken from the current official call.
| MAECI 2026-2027 call | Closed 26 March 2026 at 14:00 Italian time; next annual call to be checked on the Study in Italy portal. |
|---|---|
| DSU Toscana 2026/27 (degree courses) | Online applications 20 July – 7 September 2026; PhD and specialisation window separate. |
| University merit awards | Set per university and programme — generally aligned with admission rounds; confirm on each official call. |
| Other regions and years | Always vary — use only the current call from the relevant regional agency or institution. |
Avoid these
Scholarship deadlines are separate from admission deadlines and are often earlier. The MAECI 2026-2027 call, for instance, closed at 14:00 Italian time on 26 March 2026.
A university offer letter is not a scholarship award. Every funding scheme has its own application and selection — apply for each one explicitly.
Need-based schemes live or die on income evidence. Non-EU applicants typically need translated, legalised family income and asset documents submitted exactly as the call specifies.
Calls, thresholds, eligible countries and amounts change every academic year. Always work from the current call on the official portal, not blogs quoting older editions.
Agents, forums and aggregator sites can guide you, but the regional agency, the university or MAECI call is the only authority on eligibility, documents and dates.
FAQ
Yes. Indian students can compete for regional DSU scholarships, university merit awards, programme-linked schemes such as Invest Your Talent in Italy, and MAECI government grants — India appeared on the official MAECI eligible-countries list for 2026-2027. Each scheme has its own criteria, so nothing is guaranteed and every call must be read carefully.
DSU (diritto allo studio universitario) scholarships are need- and merit-based benefits awarded by each Italian region's student-aid agency. Depending on the region and year, winners may receive money plus services such as free or subsidised meals, accommodation subject to availability, and exemption from the regional study tax. Eligibility is assessed on family economic indicators and academic merit, and every region publishes its own annual call.
Usually yes. University admission and scholarship applications are different processes, often on different portals with different deadlines. Some awards are granted automatically with admission, but most — including regional DSU calls and MAECI grants — require a separate application.
It depends on the scheme. Some regional calls allow you to apply while intending to enrol, while others expect enrolment first; MAECI applications run on the Study in Italy portal on the call's own timeline. Read the specific call to see whether admission must come first.
No. Merit awards and waivers are decided by each university individually — some offer structured international scholarships every year, others offer little or nothing. Check the official fees and funding pages of each university on your shortlist rather than assuming support exists.
As early as the official calls allow. Government and regional calls typically open months before the academic year — for reference, the MAECI 2026-2027 call closed in March 2026 and the DSU Toscana 2026/27 degree-course window ran from July to September 2026. Start tracking calls in the first half of the year for the following intake.
Academic transcripts and certificates, a valid passport, and programme-specific items for admission; plus, for need-based scholarships, translated and legalised family income and asset documents. Language evidence may be needed where the programme or call requires it. Exact lists differ per scheme, so follow the official call.
It can, but the form varies. DSU-type benefits may include meals, accommodation and money; MAECI grants are paid as a living-cost contribution in instalments during the months you actually spend in Italy; university awards are often tuition waivers with a separate cash allowance. Confirm what each award covers before budgeting around it.
Keep planning
Scholarships are one piece — admission, visa and course choice complete the picture.
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