Study in Turin: The 2 best universities

Wondering if Turin is the place for your academic adventure? Read all about the possibilities for English speakers.

Bas Teunissen

5 minute read

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Updated on 22 Apr 2024

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Studying

Out of all the destinations you could consider, Turin is an excellent place to take your education to the next level. It doesn’t matter if you’re just looking to study in Turin for a semester or if you’re looking to take an entire course at one of Turin’s universities. In both cases, Turin is a great city to study in Italy!

What makes Turin such an attractive destination for international students? Turin has some excellent schools, like the University of Turin and the Polytechnic University of Turin, which are home to plenty of other international students. These schools are also adding more and more English language course options every year.

This diversity in available courses means you can do more than simply study in Turin for an Erasmus period. Instead, you could complete an entire bachelors or masters programs in English. Once you graduate, you’ll also find a surprising amount of English language job opportunities in the Turin area.

Turin also offers plenty of things to do for students. If you need even more motivation, you’ll be happy to know that Turin is surprisingly affordable compared to other northern Italian cities.

The relatively low rental prices keep the cost of living for students in Turin relatively low. Turin provides an array of affordable accommodation options, making it a particularly attractive city for students. Whether you prefer cozy apartments or shared living spaces, this affordability allows to find numerous options of cheap accommodation for students in Turin without breaking the bank.

As a student, this means you’ll have more money to spend on exploring Turin’s cultural highlights, going out for food and drinks and other expenses you might not be able to afford when studying in other cities.

We estimate you’ll need around €850-€1,000 a month while living in Turin as a student.

Here’s our cost of living breakdown for students in Turin:

Turin’s educational landscape is dominated by the two largest universities in the region:

• The University of Turin (Universitá Degli Studi Di Torino or UNITO)
• The Polytechnic University of Turin (Politecnico di Torino)

So let’s take a closer look at the universities, what they have to offer and how much you’ll be spending on tuition fees.

The University of Turin is one of the oldest universities in Europe, dating all the way back to 1404! It’s also one of the largest universities, with over 120 locations and 22 libraries.

It’s no surprise that enrolments in the uni of Turin can rise to 80,000 students, 8% of whom are international students. With 55 departments divided over 13 faculties, almost the only thing the university doesn’t offer are Engineering and Architecture.

UNITO also offers degrees that you can’t get anywhere else in Italy, such as Military Strategy, Biotechnology and Restoration and Conservation. One of the most sought after spots for students is a place in the Medicine & Surgery postgraduate programme at the University of Turin Medical School. The medical school is one of the few programmes with a quota and strict entry restrictions.

Currently, UNITO offers a variety of courses, as well as entire degree programmes taught in English. Let’s take a look:

Undergraduate Programmes:

• Business & Management
• Global Law & Transnational Legal Studies

Postgraduate Degrees:

Partial English curriculum

• Area and Global Studies for International Cooperation
• Business Administration
• Cellular and Molecular Biology
• Economics
• European Legal Studies
• Materials Science
• Molecular Biotechnology
• Quantitative Finance and Insurance
• Stochastics and Data Science

Full English curriculum

• Smart agriculture
• Animal nutrition and Feed Safety
• English and American Studies
• Food Systems
• Viticulture and Enology
• Philosophy

5+ year Postgraduate Programme

• Medicine & Surgery

The University of Turin is a highly regarded university with valuable contributions to research in almost every field it’s actively involved in. It’s no surprise that the University of Turin consistently ranks among the top 5 universities in Italy, reaches the top 125 in Europe and top 400 in the world. (Times Higher Education Rankings).

To study at UNITO, you pay a contribution based on the GDP Pro-Capita, meaning that if you’re from a less-wealthy country, you don’t pay as much as someone from a wealthy country. That said, the tuition fee is quite affordable overall, costing you anywhere from €300 up to €1,000 a year.

The tuition fee is paid over 2 instalments: one of €300 and the second made up of the remaining balance owed. Additionally, there are also numerous scholarships available for certain nationalities, fields of study, and the promotion of Italian culture and language.

The Polytechnic University of Turin is around 500 years younger (1906) than the University of Turin. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the best technical universities in Italy.

Cool fact: the uni even owns its very own 16th-century castle it received as a gift!

As the name suggests, Turin Polytechnic specialises in technical education. It offers a broad selection of both bachelor and master degrees in Engineering and Architecture. Every year around 35,000 students enroll to develop their technical skills and expertise. Around 15% of the student body are international students!

Turin polytechnic offers 23 bachelor programmes (3 in architecture and 20 in Engineering) and 30 masters programmes (6 in Architecture and 24 in Engineering).

Out of all these courses, there are 25 of them that are fully available in English. Let’s check them out.

English language Bachelor programmes:

• Architecture
• Electronics & Communications Engineering
• Automotive Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

English language Masters programmes:

• Architecture for sustainable design
• Architecture heritage and enhancement
• Territorial, urban, environmental and landscape planning
• Automotive Engineering
• Communications and computer networks Engineering
• Data Science and Engineering
• ICT for Smart Society
• Civil Engineering
• Building Engineering
• Electronic Engineering
• Energy and Nuclear Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Environmental and Land Engineering
• Mechatronic Engineering
• Nanotechnologies for ICT
• Petroleum and Mining Engineering

How good is the education at Turin Polytechnic? All you need to do is take a look at how the university performs in global and local rankings!

If we look at the QS Global ranking,

Turin Polytechnic scored #348, which is in the top 33% worldwide.

For topic-specific rankings, it scored #41 in the category Engineering and technology. On a local level, it ranks as #29 in the country and often finds itself in the top 5 rankings for Engineering in Italy.

At Turin Polytechnic, your tuition fee is based on whether you’re full-time or part-time enrolled in your bachelors or masters course. For full-time students, the tuition fee ranges from €2,600 to €3,800. If you’re attending as a part-time student, the fees are slightly lower, from €1,600 to €2,400.

So, there you have it! An accessible overview of what you can expect when you’re looking to bring your academic adventures to Turin at either of these fantastic Torino universities.

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