FAQ Doctoral programmes (PhD)

The results of the assessment of the candidates’ academic degrees and certifications are published in the information sheet for each doctoral programme.

Scores from the admissions interviews are provided to the candidates directly from the committees the day of the exam, and the general ranking lists of candidates eligible for admission are posted to the online Final Doctoral Candidate Rankings in the days following the interviews.

Italian students can present a self-certification with a list of exams taken and corresponding grades and credits. Graduates must provide their degree grade and date of graduation.

Ask your university for a specific certificate showing the statistical distribution of the exam grades, as indicated in the Diploma Supplement.

Students who have studied abroad must certify all this information by presenting a certificate issued by the university of provenance.

Since admission to the doctoral programmes involves the evaluation of your entire university career you will be required to provide certificates for both degrees. 

The Diploma Supplement is an official document that provides additional details on a student’s qualifications, issued on completion of a university or higher education institute qualification.

The certificate describes the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies undertaken and completed by the student according to a standardized model developed on the initiative of the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO/CEPES to overcome all the obstacles to the adequate use and recognition of qualifications.

If you do not have all the documents specified in the call for applications when enrolling online, you will have to submit them via the Enrolment documents integration service by the deadline set out in the call. Should you have any doubts or problems, please contact us via InformaStudenti > Postgraduate > Doctoral research (PhD).

The examination dates are specified in the university website.

The interview aims to verify your knowledge of topics germane to the educational and scientific contents of the PhD, as well as your expertise, scientific qualities and motivations. The interview also includes a presentation of the proposed research project. Interview modes may be different according to the PhD programme: for more information, please refer to the contacts indicated in the programme specification of the PhD of your interest, which is attached to the call.

Applicants for admission to a doctoral research programme must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent qualification according to law. Applicants with a qualification obtained abroad must hold a Master of Science, a Master of Art, or an equivalent qualification.

Individual doctoral programmes may require applicants to have specific degrees. In this case, these will be indicated in the call for applications.  

The general ranking lists of candidates eligible for admission to the doctoral programme are published on the University website and may be consulted via the online services in the days following the interviews.

PhD students must pay the annual regional tax for the Education Incentive Programme in the amount of €140.00, plus a €16.00 stamp duty and a €15.50 insurance premium, for a total of €171.50.

Students with a disability at or above 66% and/or a recognised handicap pursuant to Law no. 104/92 will have the regional tax and insurance premium waived, provided that they submit an application for exemption; these students are only required to pay the €16.00 stamp duty.

The procedures and deadlines for enrolling are set out in the call for applications. If a candidate withdraws, the rights of the candidate taking his/her place and the deadlines for enrolling are sent directly to the email address they provided at the admission stage.

You cannot benefit from a doctoral scholarship and a research fellowship at the same time.
If you hold a research fellowship from the University of Milan, or from a partner institution, and you have been admitted onto a doctoral programme with a scholarship, you can choose whether to accept the scholarship and reject the fellowship or vice-versa.

Should you reject the scholarship for the entire duration of the doctoral programme, this will enable another candidate to use it. If you reject it for one year only, you will continue to be the holder of the scholarship even if you do not use it, and you must indicate your decision every year, at the time of renewal.

Scholarships are merit-based; whether you are entitled to one depends on your position in the ranking list. To start receiving the scholarship, you have to complete a questionnaire regarding your work status when enrolling online. In the questionnaire, you will find instructions on how to communicate your IBAN. Moreover, you will receive an email with further information on your University account @unimi.it, in the weeks following enrolment.

Students who withdraw from the doctoral programme are not entitled to reimbursement of any enrolment fees already paid.

If you are the beneficiary of a scholarship and you withdraw from the doctoral programme within three months of it starting, you are required to return any payments already made to you.

Currently, the University has co-tutorship agreements in place with several foreign universities.

Students completing a co-tutored PhD receive a final degree which is valid both in Italy and in the country of the university with which the agreement is in place.

If you want to propose a new agreement, you first need to contact your PhD programme coordinator, and then the PhD and Post Graduate Programmes Office of the Academics and Training Division, which will start the procedure for signing the agreement. Co-tutorship agreements can be signed only within the first year of the doctoral programme.

You can find more opportunities for international mobility on the PhD International Mobility webpage.

In order to attend a PhD programme, students are required to have a B2 level in English, or in another foreign language as set forth in the call for applications.

To demonstrate their language proficiency, students must submit a language certificate among the ones accepted by the University, by the end of the first programme year. The certificate is valid only if it was issued no more than three years before the date of submission (two years for TOEFL certificates).

The following students are exempted from submission of the language certificate:

• those who, by the starting date of the programme, have earned a Master’s degree featuring an English-language specialisation in one of the Master’s degree classes indicated in the call;
• those who, by the starting date of the PhD programme, have earned a Master’s degree in a programme taught entirely in English;
• students of the University of Milan who, during their prior study programme, have earned a B2 English language statement issued by SLAM – University of Milan Language Centre.

If you are already enrolled in another study programme during the same academic year, visit the webpage Simultaneous enrolment in two higher education programmes to check if enrolment in a PhD and the study programme in question is allowed.

If it is, after the publication of the ranking list, but before enrolling, you will have to submit an application for simultaneous enrolment, complete with the required documents (for students of postgraduate schools or vocational masters: enrolment authorisations signed by the PhD programme coordinator and the Director of the postgraduate school / the managing body of the vocational master).