Padua International Excellence Scholarship 2027 — EUR 8,000
Partially funded Master scholarship in Italy for International students 2026
Up to 76 awards of EUR 8,000 a year plus a full fee exemption at Padua in Italy, decided from your degree application rather than a separate scholarship form.
Eligibility
- No Italian citizenship (dual citizenship accepted)
- Non-Italian secondary diploma or foreign degree
- Not resident in Italy at the time of application
- Apply to an English-taught degree within the admission deadline
What it covers
The University of Padova, one of the oldest universities in Europe, funds up to 76 International Excellence Scholarships each year for students from outside Italy who enrol in one of its English-taught degree programmes. The award is EUR 8,000 gross for each academic year, paid in two instalments of EUR 4,000, combined with a full exemption from student fees.
The fee exemption is broader than it sounds. Beneficiaries pay only the regional fee and the revenue stamp for the year, which is a fraction of the standard non-EU tuition, and the exemption applies for the duration of the scholarship rather than the first year only.
The maximum duration is two years for a master's degree and three years for a bachelor's or single-cycle degree. After that period the student pays normal tuition until graduation, so the funding is tied to the nominal length of the programme rather than to how long you take.
Two conditions keep the money flowing. Recipients must earn at least 20 CFU, the Italian credit unit, by 30 November of the following academic year, and the award is revoked, with repayment of instalments already received, if a student transfers to another university or withdraws.
Eligibility: who can apply
There are four conditions, and all of them have to be met at the point of application.
Run this self-check:
Do you hold a citizenship other than Italian? Dual citizenship that includes Italian is accepted.
Do you hold a non-Italian secondary school diploma, if you are applying for a bachelor's or single-cycle degree, or a foreign degree if you are applying for a master's?
Are you resident outside Italy at the time you apply? This is checked, and a contradiction between documents costs a place in the ranking.
Are you applying to an English-taught degree programme at Padova within that programme's admission deadline?
Are you free of any other scholarship? Holding another award disqualifies you, and the rule is enforced at the payment stage rather than at selection.
Can you complete enrolment at Padova if selected? The scholarship is only paid to enrolled students.
Deadline: the dates that decide it
The scholarship has no separate deadline because it has no separate application. The date that governs it is the admission deadline of the degree programme you choose, and for the 2027-2028 academic year the first call for applicants with a foreign qualification opened on 15 September 2026 and closes on 15 November 2026 for most programmes.
That makes this one of the most time-sensitive awards on the site. The detailed Calls for Application for the 2027-2028 scholarships are published in November 2026, but the selection is mainly reserved for candidates from the first call, and the teaching committees may only exceptionally award a scholarship to a candidate from the second call. Waiting for the call document in order to apply is therefore the wrong sequence.
How to apply
Apply to the degree, not to the scholarship. A complete application to an English-taught programme through the university's admissions portal automatically enters you for the scholarship, provided the four citizenship, qualification and residence conditions are met. No additional documents and no second form are required.
The checklist for that single application:
Your secondary school diploma for a bachelor's or single-cycle degree, or your university degree certificate for a master's, with transcripts the teaching committee can read.
A passport or identity document proving citizenship. Dual Italian holders should make that status explicit in the file.
Residence information consistent with the rest of your documents, since non-residence in Italy is an eligibility condition.
English language evidence in whatever form the chosen programme's admission notice requires.
Any programme-specific material, such as a portfolio or academic background declaration, named in that programme's admission notice.
The programme choice and the application itself are made through the university's portal, and the scholarship rules sit on the official programme page:
https://www.unipd.it/en/padua-international-excellence-scholarship-programme
Common mistakes to avoid
The first is waiting for a scholarship announcement. There is no scholarship portal and no scholarship form, so a candidate who waits for a call document and then applies in the second call has usually already lost the funded places.
The second is applying to a programme where your transcript is weak. Each teaching committee ranks its own applicants on academic excellence in that field, so the same grades can be competitive in one department and unremarkable in another. Choosing the programme matters as much as choosing the university.
The third is arriving with another award. The rule against holding a second scholarship is absolute, and discovering it after selection means losing both the place and the money.
Tips to win
Read the admission notice for your specific programme, not just the university's general page. Deadlines, document lists and any entrance test differ by programme, and the scholarship follows the programme's calendar.
Treat 20 CFU as a planning constraint from the first semester. The requirement is easy to meet if you are aware of it and easy to miss if you are not, and the consequence is repayment rather than a warning.
Budget honestly. EUR 8,000 a year plus a fee exemption is a strong award, but it does not cover housing, food, flights or the visa, and Padova's living costs are real. The scholarship closes most of the tuition gap, not the living-cost gap.
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=53
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=85
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=92
Photo: Palazzo del Bo, University of Padova, Simonosa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Last updated: 2 November 2026
The 15 November first call is close. Contact an OEAC advisor and we will tell you which Padova programmes your transcript is strongest for before the window closes.
Always confirm the deadline and eligibility on the official page before you apply. Scholarship dates change between rounds, and this listing is a summary — the provider's own page is the authoritative source. OEAC Network lists scholarships for free and is not an agent for any university or funding body.
