Can you study in Italy or France without IELTS?
Often yes, through a Medium of Instruction letter. But there are places where a score still decides things, and one of them is money.
The short answer is often yes. A good number of English taught programmes in both Italy and France accept a Medium of Instruction letter from your previous institution in place of an IELTS or TOEFL score. But "often" is doing real work in that sentence, so here is where the line falls.
What a Medium of Instruction letter is
It is a letter from your university or college, on official letterhead, signed by the registrar or controller of examinations, stating that your degree was taught and examined in English. That is all it is. It carries weight because it comes from the institution rather than from you.
A letter that gets accepted usually:
- Names you, your programme and the years you studied.
- States explicitly that the medium of instruction and of examination was English.
- Is on letterhead with a stamp and a signature and a contact for verification.
- Is issued recently rather than years ago.
Registrars in Pakistan are often slow to issue these, and the wording matters. Request it early and check it says "medium of instruction and examination" rather than something vaguer.
Where a score is still needed
- Competitive programmes that state a specific score in their entry requirements, particularly at well ranked institutions.
- Several scholarship schemes, which use a score as an objective comparison across countries.
- Some professional and clinical programmes.
- Occasionally the visa stage, where a score is one more piece of evidence that you can follow the course.
What score to aim for
As a general guide, 6.0 overall opens most English taught Bachelor programmes and 6.5 opens most Masters, with some asking for no band below 5.5 or 6.0. Check the exact requirement of the programmes on your shortlist rather than aiming at a number you read anywhere.
Our honest advice
If you can afford the test and you have the time, take it. Not because you always need it, but because it removes a whole category of "it depends" from your year: it widens your shortlist, it makes scholarship applications possible that otherwise are not, and it makes the visa file stronger. If money or time genuinely makes that impossible, then build the shortlist around programmes that accept a Medium of Instruction letter and get the letter worded properly.
What we would not do is decide the whole country and programme purely to avoid a test. That is optimising the small decision at the cost of the large one.
And French, for France
English taught Masters in France do not require French for admission. If you apply to a French taught programme, you will usually need a DELF or TCF result at around B2. Either way, a little French before you go makes the practical parts of life there significantly easier.
