Medicine and Surgery (single-cycle degree, taught in English)

About the course

A six-year (360 ECTS) single-cycle degree in Medicine and Surgery (class LM-41), taught entirely in English and leading to the Italian medical degree. The final year includes the practical placements (TPVES) that qualify you to practise.

Entry requirements for Irish students

• The university assesses the Irish Leaving Certificate individually and does not publish a fixed Irish requirement. Contact admissions to confirm. Under the 2026/27 call you need a school-leaving qualification obtained after at least 12 years of schooling that gives university entry in Ireland. You also need a Dichiarazione di Valore from the Italian embassy or an Attestato di Comparabilità from CIMEA.
• Entry is through the national IMAT, which is taken in English. The 2026 test has 60 multiple-choice questions in 100 minutes: 4 reading comprehension, 5 logical reasoning, 23 biology, 15 chemistry and 13 physics/maths. Each correct answer earns 1.5 points and each wrong answer loses 0.4 points, with a maximum of 90. EU candidates need at least 20 points to be ranked.
• The call for applications does not require a separate English-language certificate, because the IMAT itself is in English. You can declare language certificates listed in the decree, and these are used only to break ties.

Working in Ireland afterwards

Because your medical degree comes from an EU/EEA country, the Medical Council of Ireland can recognise it automatically under EU Directive 2005/36/EC, as long as it is listed in Annex V (point 5.1.1). If that listing says the degree must come with an internship or state-exam certificate from your home country, you need to have that too, and you must also show your current professional standing and meet the English-language requirements. Graduates of EU/EEA medical schools may apply to the HSE for Irish intern posts, but only if their home-country degree does not already count as complete training. In older HSE intern guides (e.g., the 2022 guide), only graduates from medical schools in Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Iceland and Slovenia could apply. Graduates from other EEA countries (and Italians holding the ‘abilitante’ degree) were told they are not eligible, because they qualify directly for General registration. Applicants who need no work permit were matched before those who do. Please check the current eligibility list in the HSE intern guide for the year you apply. We could not confirm it for the July 2027 intake because the current HSE guide pages are password-protected.

How to apply

1. Get your documents readyArrange a Dichiarazione di Valore from the Italian embassy or an Attestato di Comparabilità from CIMEA for your Leaving Certificate. Start this well before enrolment.
2. Register for the IMAT on UniversitalyIn the 2026 cycle, registration ran from 26 August to 9 September 2026 at 15:00 Italian time. Pick Cagliari among your preferred universities and pay the test fee. Watch for the 2027 decree, expected in summer 2027.
3. Sit the IMATThe 2026 test is on 29 September 2026 at 13:30 Italian time, at Italian universities and at test centres abroad. EU candidates need at least 20 points to be ranked.
4. Check the ranking and enrol quicklyThe 2026 rankings are due on 26 October 2026. If you are ASSEGNATO (offered a place), enrol at Cagliari within 4 days, excluding Saturdays and public holidays. If you are PRENOTATO or waiting, confirm on Universitaly within 5 working days of each round that you want to stay in the ranking, or you drop out.

Costs

• Cagliari does not charge a flat fee for this course. Fees depend on family income, measured by the Italian ISEE. For 2026/27 the yearly fee for Medicine ranges from nothing (ISEE up to EUR 24,335.11) to EUR 3,498.80. You pay the top rate if your ISEE is above EUR 87,723.05 or if you do not submit one. Students whose family income and assets are abroad can apply for an ‘ISEE parificato Università’ through an authorised tax-assistance centre (CAF) by 31 December 2026. When you first enrol, the first instalment is just the EUR 16 stamp duty. The rest is paid in instalments due 1 March and 30 June. You also pay a regional tax for the right to study, set by the Region of Sardinia and due by 1 March. The fee regulations set no separate fee for the English-taught course. You also pay an IMAT registration fee to the Ministry through Universitaly, and the amount is announced when registration opens.

At a glance