How to choose a university in Italy or France, and not regret it
The ranking is the least useful number on the page. Five things matter more, and four of them are things you can check in an afternoon.
Students arrive at us with a list of universities taken from a global ranking, and it is almost always the wrong list. Not because rankings are meaningless, but because they measure research output, and you are not buying research output. You are buying three years of your life in a particular city on a particular budget.
Here is what we actually go through with a student, in order of how much it affects the outcome.
1. Is the programme taught in a language you have?
Obvious, and still the most common mistake. A programme listed under an English title is not always taught in English throughout, and a Master with English in the first year and Italian in the second is a real thing. Check the language of instruction on the programme page, not the faculty page, and check it for every year.
2. What does the city cost, and does the university house you?
The difference between Milan and Bologna, or Paris and Lille, is larger than the difference between most universities in the same country. A university with guaranteed DSU or CROUS housing in a mid sized city can be several hundred euros a month cheaper than a better ranked one in the capital, which over two years is a scholarship in itself.
Ask directly: does this university offer student housing to international students, and is it allocated or applied for? "Applied for, in a competitive pool" and "allocated to scholarship holders" are very different answers.
3. Can you actually get in?
Look at the stated entry requirements and be honest about your file. A shortlist should have a couple of ambitious choices, several realistic ones and one you would certainly get. A list of eight ambitious choices is not a strategy, it is a way to spend a year and end up with nothing.
4. What is the scholarship position at that specific institution?
This varies enormously and is not visible in any ranking. Some Italian universities sit in regions with generous DSU provision. Some French institutions nominate actively for Eiffel and some barely do. Some have their own income based fee bands. Two universities of identical standing can differ by thousands of euros a year for the same student.
5. What happens after you graduate?
Look for whether the programme has an internship or placement component, whether the city has employers in your field, and what the post study stay route looks like in that country for your graduation year. A well connected programme in a working city beats a famous name in a place with no industry in your subject.
Where rankings are genuinely useful
Two places. First, if you intend to go on to a PhD or to research, the standing of the department matters and subject rankings are a reasonable proxy. Second, if your family or a future employer in Pakistan will recognise the name, that has real value, and it is not snobbery to weigh it. Just weigh it after the five things above, not before.
A simple way to build the shortlist
- 1Write down your budget per month, honestly, in euros.
- 2List programmes in your subject taught in a language you have.
- 3Remove any in a city where your budget would not cover a room and food.
- 4Of what is left, sort by scholarship and housing provision rather than by ranking.
- 5Split the top eight into two ambitious, four realistic and two safe.
- 6Then, and only then, look at where they sit in a ranking, and use it to break ties.
That process produces a very different list from the one most students walk in with, and a much higher proportion of students who are still happy in year two.
