Secondary School Diplomas
To complete their enrollment, admitted students must provide a valid secondary school diploma (national or international) suitable for access to 1st cycle academic studies (i.e. Bachelor programs) in the country to which the school’s educational system belongs.
By the end of July preceding the start of the academic year of enrollment (by the end of August for British qualifications) students will need to upload a copy of their final diploma through the Apply2B portal, according to procedures and deadlines that will be communicated by Admissions in due course. Diplomas released at the end of the calendar year (i.e., Southern Hemisphere diplomas) must be awarded within the year preceding enrollment.
In order to be considered valid, all the secondary school diplomas must satisfy the Italian Ministry of University and Research's official requirement, which means:
- The diploma must be awarded after at least 12 years of education (starting from the first year of primary school)
- (for non-EU systems only) the diploma must be awarded after at least 2 full years of attendance in the educational system to which the final diploma refers. Therefore, diplomas awarded after only 1 year of attendance during an exchange/study abroad experience will not be considered valid for enrollment. It is strongly recommended that Italian students who have spent the second-last year of high school abroad and obtained a national diploma, take the Italian Maturità.
- If there is a national test for University entrance in the country of origin (such as the Gao Kao in China, YKS (TYT and AYT) in Turkey, Panelladikés Exetáseis in Greece, ENES/Vestibular in Brazil, etc.), this must be passed.
If you will be awarded with an IB Diploma, British Qualifications or American Diploma, please check on specific secondary school diploma requirements below.
Diplomas that do not meet the requirements listed above or in the specific diploma requirements below (e.g. diplomas awarded after less than 12 years of schooling, extra EU diplomas obtained only after one year of study in the educational system the diploma refers, or diplomas without their specific requirements such as the US High School Diploma without APs) MUST be integrated with one of the following:
- 1 full year of University/post-secondary education with all the exams passed (for 11-year diplomas) or 2 full years of University with all the exams passed (for 10-year diplomas) (*). The year/s of integration must be fulfilled in accredited and recognized Universities, with all the exams for the 1st year passed (*)
- Completion of a Foundation course in an Italian University or abroad (*). Specific Foundation courses cannot be recommended but programs with contents similar to the ones in Bocconi programs are suggested.Foundation courses are not automatically accepted and their suitability as diploma integration will be evaluated by the Admission Committee according to the documents provided in the online application.
(*) Please note that University years and/or Foundation courses used as integration to fulfil diploma requirements cannot be considered for credit recognition.
CIMEA / Declaration of Value
For non-EU citizens and when indicated in the admission portal, Statements of Comparability and Verification issued by CIMEA (the Italian NARIC Center) may be a compulsory requirement to complete the enrollment. Statements of Comparability and Verification can be easily requested on the CIMEA website.
Please note that the Declaration of Value (DoV) issued by Italian Consular Authorities is considered a valid alternative to the Statement of Comparability.
Even if not requested by the Admissions, non-EU applicants are kindly invited to check directly with the Italian Authorities (Embassy/Consulate/Italian Cultural Institute) in their country if a CIMEA’s Statement of Comparability and/or Declaration of Value would still be required for the study visa procedure.
Bocconi reminds that the evaluation of foreign qualifications presented for enrollment to Italian higher education courses of study is under exclusive jurisdiction of higher education institutions, as established by Art. 2 of Law 148/2002.
For this reason, any documentation produced by CIMEA, Italian diplomatic Missions or other Authorities does not affect the autonomous evaluation decisions of Bocconi University regarding foreign qualifications for admission and enrollment to courses.
The evaluations of CIMEA or the one of the Italian Consular Authorities in the DoV, do not confer legal value to foreign diplomas. In case candidates make use of their diplomas to access another cycle of academic studies, for the participation to a public contest or for the exercise of a specific profession, the diploma recognition for such purposes must be carried out by responsible authorities.
In their decisional autonomy, Universities can decide to admit international students by evaluating their path of studies and final diploma.
Specific diploma requirements
In addition to the general requirements, that are valid for all diplomas included the ones listed below, some diplomas have further specific requirements or integrations that must be fulfilled by admitted students in order to complete the enrollment. For this reason, applicants will be asked to complete dedicated sections and tasks in their applications on the Apply2B portal.
If your diploma is not listed among the most common international qualifications shown below, please see the "Diploma requirements" attachment available in the Download section of this webpage. If your Diploma is not listed in the attachment, please contact the Bocconi Admissions.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is considered valid for enrollment without any translation and/or legalization.
The full IB DP must be awarded:
- by no later than the session of May (results available at the beginning of July)
- after at least 12 years of education
- with at least 24 points in six chosen subjects, 12 of which must be obtained at "Higher Level"
- with successful passing of the three core subjects: Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Creativity, Action, Service (CAS), and Extended Essay (EE)
Please note that retakes in November will not be accepted and IB Certificates by themselves are not valid for enrollment.
Important additional requirement: The IB Diploma will only be considered valid if the student has transitioned to the IB program at the penultimate year of their original school system. For example, in a 5-year school system (like the Italian system), students must move to the IB program at the end of the third year to ensure diploma validity.
This means that, for students transferring from the Italian school system, the IB Diploma will only be considered valid if the student enters the IB program after completing the third year of Italian upper secondary school (i.e. with promotion to the fourth year), thus ensuring a total of 13 years of education.
Please note that Foundation courses attended during the final year of the IB programme, as well as examinations taken to obtain admission to the fourth year of the Italian upper secondary school system, will not be considered valid for the purpose of meeting enrollment requirements. In all cases, students must have completed 13 years of schooling.
The only exception applies to students who enter the IB program after the second year (i.e. starting in the third year), provided they were previously enrolled in programs such as "Liceo Internazionale" already structured as a 4-year program, which therefore entails a total of 12 years of education
Students with mixed or hybrid educational backgrounds who have completed or will complete 13 years of schooling and obtained/will obtain the IB Diploma are encouraged to contact the Admissions Office for individual assessment of their case.
In order to complete the enrollment requirement, please include Bocconi University in the recipient list of your IB diploma results (Institute code: 001595 - Università Bocconi).
In the IBIS system, please specify your Bocconi username - the 7-digits code (i.e. 300000X) - as “Application number” and your program of admission as “Course reference”.
The Admissions Office will check your IB results in July directly through the IBIS system.
Only in case you already graduated, please upload a copy of the 2 pages of the diploma (in original language) in the dedicated section on the Apply2B portal.
Please note that the legalization of the IB diploma is not required.
Bocconi University accepts applicants with British qualifications, namely General Certificate of Education (GCE) and International General Certificate of Education (IGCE) dispensed by official boards (Cambridge, Edexcel, AQA, OCR, WJEC), for university enrollment, as long as they have passed/will pass at least 3 subjects at Advanced Level (A Level) or Pre-University level (Pre U).
Please note that A Levels/Pre U in Critical Thinking and General Studies are NOT accepted by Bocconi. BTEC are not considered valid to replace the compulsory A Levels/Pre U.
In order to complete the enrollment, you will need to provide alternatively by the end of August:
- The provisional certificates of at least 3 A-levels results and a certified school confirmation (with stamp and signature) of your A Levels results and study completion or
- A copy of the official board certificates with at least 3 A-levels passed
For Scottish qualifications, at least 3 subjects at Advanced Higher level or, alternatively, 2 Advanced Highers and at least 4 Higher are compulsory.
Students awarded with an American high school diploma, issued by an American high school in the United States or by an American school in another country, must provide at least 3 Advanced Placement (AP) by July.
In any case, all the APs final scores must be released by the College Board and passed with a minimum grade of 3 out of 5 within July.
If the school does not offer any AP course, self-study candidates are accepted provided that the final AP exams are taken through the College Board.
Check the list of accepted AP subjects in the Download area of this webpage.
Applicants who have already graduated with an American high school diploma without any AP must have completed at least 1 year of University with all the exams passed in order to be considered for admission.
In order to complete the enrollment, you will be asked to provide us with:
- Your high school Diploma in its original language
- A complete transcript of your final year, in the original language, including the graduation date
- Proof of Advanced Placement (AP) exams: you must have passed at least 3 AP exams with a score of 3 or higher. These exam results should be electronically submitted to Bocconi University through the College Board website, using Bocconi's DI code 7206.
Students awarded with the French Baccalaureate must present the final Relevé des Notes du Baccalauréat (in original language) by the end of July.
Students awarded with the European Baccalaureate from an European school both in Italy or abroad, must provide a copy of the diploma and the complete final year transcript (in original language);
Students awarded with a Turkish National diploma, in order to satisfy the diploma requirement for enrollment, must provide:
- Diploma (in original language)
- Complete transcript of the final year (in original language)
- YKS (TYT and AYT) passed in the school year of graduation
- Translation in English or Italian of all the above-listed documents (if required)
Please note that for graduated students applying for a study visa, consular authorities may request a YKS exam for the current year of admission. Students are advised to verify this requirement with consular authorities.
For students who will complete their studies in Turkey but are not of Turkish citizenship, the YÖS exam is required instead of the YKS.
Students graduating in the year of enrollment, will be required to provide a copy of their provisional diploma results, together with an official translation into English or Italian.
Those already graduated, will be required to provide a copy of their final high school diploma and final transcript of grades in the original language, together with official translations into English or Italian.