study in Milan
Italy's business, finance and design capital — the country's strongest graduate job market, its best-known technical university, and its highest cost of living.
Milan is where Italy works. Finance, fashion, design, media and professional services concentrate here to a degree that no other Italian city approaches, and the graduate job market reflects it — this is the one Italian city where an international graduate can realistically expect to be hired locally.
Its institutions match: Politecnico di Milano is among Europe's leading engineering, architecture and design schools, and Bocconi is a genuinely international business university.
The cost is the trade. Milan is the most expensive Italian city by a clear margin, with a rental market squeezed hard by student demand. It is also the least "Italian" in the tourist sense — a working northern city rather than a historic one.
A mix of public and private institutions, with very different fee structures. The ISEE bands apply at the public universities; private ones set their own fees.
Politecnico di Milano
Engineering, architecture and industrial design; Italy's strongest technical university and largely English-taught at master's level.Università Bocconi
Private; economics, finance, management and law, with a strongly international student body.Università degli Studi di Milano
Large public university; medicine, law, sciences, agriculture and humanities.Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Private; economics, medicine, psychology and communications, with campuses in several cities.Milan is Italy's most expensive city, driven by rent. Public university tuition is still banded by the ISEE, so a correctly filed income declaration matters more here than anywhere — it is the difference between a low band and the maximum.
Against the other cities we cover in Italy, Milan is one of the more expensive. That is our reading of this country’s own spread, not a published index.
Tuition at an Italian public university is scaled to declared family income via the ISEE.
The practical texture of the place — what a week actually looks like.
Climate
Continental and inland — cold foggy winters and hot humid summers. Less mild than the Italian stereotype suggests.
Getting around
An extensive metro, tram and bus network with a large student discount. The best public transport in Italy.
Housing
The most expensive and competitive Italian market. Regional DSU housing places are the cheap route — apply early and correctly.
Working
Non-EU students may work up to 20 hours a week (1,040 hours a year). Italian is usually required for anything customer-facing.
Language
Many master's programmes at Politecnico and Bocconi are English-taught. Housing, administration and part-time work run in Italian.
Bureaucracy
The permesso di soggiorno must be applied for within eight days of arrival. Start it immediately — delays cascade into everything else.
Public university tuition in Italy is scaled to declared family income via the ISEE. A Nepali family must file an <em>ISEE parificato</em> through an authorised CAF office — without it, universities apply the highest band automatically.
This is the single most valuable administrative task in an Italian application, and it has a deadline separate from your enrolment. Start it as early as you can: it requires translated, legalised income and property documents from Nepal, which take time to assemble. Lombardy's regional right-to-study body also awards grants on the same income basis, which can cover fees, a housing place and meals — apply for both together.
Milan is one of 3 cities we cover in Italy. Tap any pin to compare — the city you pick moves your total cost more than almost any other choice you make.