Medicine and Surgery in English (single-cycle degree, LM-41)

About the course

A six-year, 360-ECTS single-cycle medical degree taught in English in Naples, organised over 12 semesters with clinical internships in hospitals and with general practitioners (at least 60 ECTS of professional training). The final exam also serves as the state exam that qualifies you to practise medicine in Italy.

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.
• Entry depends on your score in the IMAT, a national test in English set by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. In 2026 it had 60 questions: 4 reading comprehension and general knowledge, 5 logical reasoning and problem-solving, 23 biology, 15 chemistry and 13 physics and maths. You need at least 20 points to be eligible. Places are assigned from a national merit ranking and your order of university preferences.
• No separate English-language entry requirement was found on the university’s pages. On IMAT registration you may declare a recognised English certificate (listed in the decree’s Annex 3); one school year in an English-medium school counts automatically.

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. Prepare for the IMATStudy biology, chemistry, physics and maths, plus reading and logic, for the national IMAT. In 2026 it was held on 29 September.
2. Register on UniversitalyRegister and pay the IMAT fee on Universitaly within the national window (26 August to 9 September 2026, 15:00 Italian time, in the 2026 cycle) and rank Vanvitelli (Naples) among your preferences.
3. Follow the national rankingCheck your score (8 October in 2026) and the national merit ranking (26 October in 2026) in your Universitaly area. Confirm your interest within 5 working days of each ranking.
4. Enrol with the universityIf assigned to Vanvitelli, enrol within the 4-day window, submit your Leaving Certificate documents as required for foreign qualifications, and pay the first fee instalment.

Costs

• We could not confirm the tuition fee from the university’s website. At Italian state universities, fees for EU students are normally set on a sliding scale linked to family income (ISEE), with a regional tax and stamp duty on top; check the university’s ‘Tasse e contributi’ (Fees and Contributions) page for the current rules. There is also a separate IMAT participation fee, paid on Universitaly; the 2026 decree says the amount and payment method are published on Universitaly when registration opens. Check both before budgeting.

At a glance