The Free Press Journal spoke to Federica Maria Giove, Director of the Uni-Italia Centre in India. Unitalia's mission is to promote the Italian Higher Education System in the county.
Is it necessary for Indian students to learn Italian if they wish to study in Italy?
Students mostly enrol in English taught programs, Italian of course is not required. English proficiency may be required by certain universities and can be certified by an IELTS and all other certifications that are globally recognized. However, I can say that the majority of public universities in Italy do not require an IELTS. But a certificate issued by the Indian University that the medium of instruction was English is needed. With this certificate, the students will be eligible to apply for a course taught in English.
What are the best courses one can study in Italy?
Italy is mainly known for food, fashion, and design. But it is true that the variety of courses that Italian Universities are offering is huge. You will definitely find any sort of course, spacing from STEM to humanities offered in English in Italy. We also are starting to be known for physics. As we all know, recently the Nobel Prize winner in Physics is Italian Giorgio Parisi, who is teaching at the University of Rome. Arts, Architecture all these areas in the humanities are related to Italy. I believe that we were not picked for a single reason but a variety of them.
Has there been a change in the courses students prefer to study in Italy?
I have noticed in recent years that Indian students were more focused on certain subjects, in recent years this is changing. For example, you will have a huge share of students applying for medicine and surgery courses. An interesting number of students opting for Mechanical Engineering. Now we know that Italy is very famous for Ferrari, and Ducati, so mechanical engineering is definitely a very popular area of study in Italy.
