Italy and France intake deadlines, month by month
The calendar most students see too late. What should be finished by November, what closes in January, and why April is not the start of anything.
Deadlines move year to year and university to university, so treat this as the shape of the year rather than a list of dates. What does not change is the shape: the work that decides your outcome happens six to twelve months before the deadline everyone talks about.
The two intakes
- September or October, the main intake in both countries, with the widest choice of programmes and almost all of the scholarship money.
- February, a smaller intake at some Italian universities and a few French institutions, with a narrower choice and much less funding.
If you can make the September intake work, make it work. The February intake is a reasonable second option, not an equal one.
The year, working backwards from a September start
| Month | Italy | France |
|---|---|---|
| Aug to Sep, a year ahead | Start IBCC and HEC attestation. Book IELTS if needed. | Same. Begin looking at programmes. |
| Oct to Nov | Early university rounds start opening. Shortlist programmes. | Études en France file opens for the next year. Prepare documents. |
| Dec to Jan | Many university deadlines fall here. Motivation letters written. | Campus France submissions and interviews. Eiffel nominations happen around now inside universities. |
| Feb to Mar | Further university deadlines. Regional DSU information published. | Institution decisions begin. Later programme deadlines close. |
| Mar to May | Universitaly pre enrolment window. DSU applications. | Offers arrive. Accept and begin CROUS housing applications. |
| May to Jul | Offers, accommodation, insurance, funds evidence. | Visa appointment booking and the file. |
| Jun to Aug | Visa appointment in Islamabad and the decision. | Visa appointment and decision. Flights after approval. |
| Sep | Arrive. Permesso di soggiorno within eight working days. | Arrive. Validate the visa online. |
The three dates that actually decide it
- 1The day you start attestation. Everything downstream waits on this, and it is entirely within your control.
- 2The scholarship deadline, which usually sits before the admission deadline rather than after it. Students who wait for an offer before applying for funding have already missed it.
- 3The date you book the visa appointment. Slots compress badly in the summer, and a file that is ready in June with a September appointment has still lost.
If you are starting late
Late is a spectrum. Starting in October for the following September is comfortable. Starting in January is tight but workable if your documents are already attested. Starting in April for that September usually means the February intake or the following year, and anyone who tells you otherwise while taking your money should be treated with suspicion.
We will tell you which intake is realistic on the first call, before you have paid anything. Sometimes the honest answer is to spend six months getting the file right and target the next round properly, and that produces better outcomes than rushing a weak application into a closing window.
