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University of Cagliari (Università degli Studi di Cagliari)
Welcome to a Mediterranean centre of learning
Many applicants search for English‑taught programs in Italy that blend research quality, personal support, and modest fees. The University of Cagliari answers that call. As one of the long‑standing public Italian universities, it offers chances to study in Italy in English while keeping costs close to those at many tuition‑free universities Italy. Established in 1626 and rebuilt after the Second World War, the institution stands today among global rankings for its scientific output, student satisfaction, and regional impact.
A brief history with modern reach
The university began as a Spanish crown college, teaching law, medicine, and philosophy to serve Sardinia. Centuries later, it has evolved into a full research hub with 15 departments and more than 25,000 students. Times Higher Education places it in the 501‑600 band worldwide, noting strong citation scores in physics, computer science, and medicine. Local companies partner with university labs to refine drug discovery, marine engineering, and renewable‑energy storage, building the school’s reputation far beyond the island.
Key academic areas
- Engineering and Architecture: civil, environmental, chemical, and computer engineering.
- Life Sciences: biotechnology, bioinformatics, and marine biology.
- Medicine and Surgery: clinical practice, neuroscience, and sports science.
- Economics, Law, and Political Science: international management, data analytics, and EU policy studies.
- Humanities and Education: archaeology, linguistics, and digital communication.
Many of these departments host English‑taught postgraduate tracks, joint doctorates, and Erasmus mobility exchange, reinforcing the university’s role within the circle of English‑taught programs in Italy.
English‑taught programs in Italy: degree map at Cagliari
The university offers more than a dozen full degrees and numerous single modules in English.
- Master of Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity stream
- Master of Electronic Engineering
- Master of International Management and Sustainability
- Master of Biosciences and Biotechnology
- Joint Doctorate in Sustainable Tourism Management (shared with Spanish and French partners)
Short specialist tracks include Deep Learning for Robotics and Big‑Data Mining for Finance. These options let you study in Italy in English while linking classroom theory to Mediterranean case studies.
Students who prefer Italian instruction can still select up to 40 ECTS in English modules, keeping language skills fresh. Tandem‑learning clubs pair locals and internationals, so everyone benefits.
Scholarships, fees, and the DSU grant
Like all public Italian universities, the University of Cagliari uses income‑based tuition. Annual fees rarely exceed €3,000 and may shrink below €500 when family income meets low‑band thresholds.
DSU grant overview
- Tuition waiver: 100 % of fees removed for eligible income brackets.
- Living stipend: up to €5,600 each academic year.
- Meal plan: two free meals per day in campus cafeterias.
- Accommodation: discounted rooms at university halls.
Regional bodies such as ERSU Sardegna handle DSU applications, yet ApplyAZ guides you through each form, translation, and deadline.
Other support
- Excellence awards: €2,000‑€4,000 for students in the top 10 %.
- Research assistantships: part‑time roles in labs for €600‑€800 per month.
- Industry fellowships: Port Authority and Tiscali sponsor final‑semester projects.
These scholarships for international students in Italy can combine with the DSU grant, lowering net costs to near zero.
Campus architecture and learning resources
Cagliari’s main hub sits on a hill overlooking the lagoon. Buildings mix Baroque façades with high‑glass labs and open makerspaces. Facilities include:
- Digital Innovation Centre: home to Sardegna Ricerche supercomputers.
- Marine Station: vessels, scuba gear, and ocean sensors for field courses.
- Biomedical Complex: simulation wards, MRI scanners, and tissue‑culture suites.
- Language Centre: free IELTS preparation, Italian A1‑C1 classes, and subtitling labs.
Each faculty offers evening help sessions led by doctoral tutors—ideal for non‑native English speakers adjusting to technical vocabulary.
The city: life, cost, and daily rhythm
Cagliari, Sardinia’s capital, hugs a gulf framed by limestone cliffs and pink‑salt lagoons. Its population of 150,000 blends island heritage with student energy.
Affordability
- Rent: €250‑€350 per month for a shared flat.
- Groceries: €150 on average, lower if you use open markets.
- Transport: €25 monthly pass covers buses, trams, and suburban trains.
Compared with mainland metros, you save 20 %‑30 % on living costs, stretching scholarship funds further.
Climate
- Winter: mild, 12 °C average, plenty of sunshine.
- Spring and autumn: perfect for hiking coastal trails.
- Summer: hot but breezy; classes mostly end by July, letting you enjoy beaches.
Public transport
Orange CTM buses run day and night, linking dorms, labs, and entertainment areas. Bike‑sharing stations and e‑scooters serve the flat lowlands. The airport sits 10 minutes by train, connecting you to Rome and Milan in one hour.
Culture and leisure
- Roman amphitheatre concerts and open‑air cinema nights.
- Sardinian folk festivals with masks, horses, and pipe music.
- Street‑art routes and indie‑music bars in the Marina district.
- Mediterranean diet celebrated in student canteens: fregola, sea urchin pasta, and pecorino cheese.
Erasmus Student Network organises wind‑surf weekends and language‑exchange aperitivos, making it easy to build friendships.
Industry scene: jobs and internships
Sardinia’s economy blends traditional and high‑tech domains.
Key sectors
- ICT: Tiscali, CRS4 research park, and start‑ups in cybersecurity and cloud computing.
- Energy transition: Enel Green Power solar projects and Wave Power pilot plants.
- Marine and aerospace: Fincantieri ship repair, Dassault Systems flight‑test outpost.
- Tourism and culture: luxury resorts, archaeological consulting, and event management.
- Agri‑food: organic wine, botanical extracts, and nutraceutical labs.
Internship offices connect students with these employers through career days and project challenges. For example, data‑science students may analyse sailing‑race telemetry, while automation engineers program robots that pack pecorino rounds. Humanities students curate VR tours of Nuragic ruins, merging culture with tech.
Innovation hubs
- Parco Tecnologico di Pula: houses biotech and AI ventures; offers summer traineeships.
- INAF‑Sardinia Radio Telescope: physics students assist in pulsar data crunching.
- Port of Cagliari Smart Logistics Cluster: engineers model container‑flow algorithms.
Local authorities run “Voucher Tirocinio” schemes giving stipends to companies that host international interns. These keep costs down for small firms and open many positions.
Relevant industries for every faculty
- Economic analysis: fintech for small islands and blue economy forecasting.
- Engineering: aerospace composites, renewable micro‑grids, and hydrogen storage.
- Life sciences: marine pharmaceutics, coral eco‑genomics, and anti‑aging compounds.
- Law and policy: EU maritime law, migration studies, and smart city governance.
- Humanities: digital archives of Phoenician artefacts and endangered dialect preservation.
This variety ensures that whatever field you choose, Cagliari provides specialised avenues for research, internships, or entrepreneurial trials.
Support services and student welfare
- Buddy programme: older internationals help new arrivals with housing and healthcare forms.
- Counselling centre: free sessions in English and Italian.
- Sports association: discounted sailing, climbing, and five‑a‑side leagues.
- Career mentoring: LinkedIn clinics, mock interviews, and start‑up incubator workshops.
These services ensure you can focus on learning rather than paperwork or stress.
Why Cagliari stands out
- Historic campus plus modern labs in one setting.
- Lower living costs than mainland capitals.
- Strong funding through DSU grant and additional aid.
- Fast air links to Europe and rich Sardinian culture at your doorstep.
- Job market that values English‑speaking graduates with technical or creative skills.
Picture your next step
Imagine coding a hydro‑meter predictor by day, watching flamingos at sunset, and enjoying pasta alla bottarga with classmates after study. Picture printing your thesis on algae‑derived paper, knowing the research fed directly into a start‑up trial. This is the rhythm that awaits at the University of Cagliari.
In two minutes we’ll confirm whether you meet the basic entry rules for tuition-free, English-taught degrees in Italy. We’ll then quickly see if we still have space for you this month. If so, you’ll get a personalised offer. Accept it, and our experts hand-craft a shortlist of majors that fit your grades, goals, and career plans. Upload your documents once; we submit every university and scholarship application, line up multiple admission letters, and guide you through the visa process—backed by our admission-and-scholarship guarantee.
Electronic Engineering LM‑29 at University of Cagliari
A gateway to English‑taught engineering
Electronic systems power every smart object, from biomedical sensors to renewable‑energy converters. If you want to design those systems while limiting tuition costs, consider Italy’s public universities. The Electronic Engineering LM‑29 programme is an excellent example. Taught fully in English, it places you in one of the strongest English‑taught programs in Italy, lets you study in Italy in English, and offers state funding that approaches the cost levels seen at tuition‑free universities Italy. Below you will discover the curriculum, research labs, scholarships for international students in Italy—including the DSU grant—and the career value this master delivers.
Why choose an English‑taught Electronic Engineering master in Italy?
Academic strength with manageable fees
Public Italian universities balance high research output and controlled tuition. Because fees scale with verified family income, many learners pay under €1,000 per year. Add the DSU grant, and total cost often drops close to zero. Put simply, you access modern cleanrooms, microwave chambers, and embedded‑systems benches for a fraction of typical English‑speaking‑country fees.
Global relevance
Courses follow IEEE standards, Eurocodes, and IEC safety rules. You learn the language of data sheets, design reviews, and technical pitches—all in English. That prepares you for multinational teams working on 6G antennas, AI accelerators, or solar inverters.
Research‑to‑classroom flow
Faculty members hold ERC (European Research Council) grants in organic electronics, radar imaging, and neuromorphic computing. Early project data feed lecture content, so you study living science, not archival examples.
Programme overview
The LM‑29 master spans two academic years and 120 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits. It divides into three tracks:
- Micro‑ and Nano‑Electronics – design chips, fabricate sensors, and test at wafer level.
- Embedded Systems & IoT – integrate processors, firmware, and cloud dashboards.
- Telecommunication & Microwave Engineering – develop antenna arrays, propagation models, and high‑frequency circuits.
Year 1: advanced foundations
- Solid‑State Physics for Electronics (9 ECTS)
- Analogue Integrated Circuit Design (9 ECTS)
- Digital VLSI Architectures (6 ECTS)
- Embedded C and RTOS (6 ECTS)
- Probability and Signal Theory (6 ECTS)
- Project Studio 1 (6 ECTS): teams build a mixed‑signal sensor node and present power‑budget calculations.
Year 2: specialisation and thesis
- Electromagnetic Compatibility & PCB Layout (6 ECTS)
- Wireless Systems and 6G Networks (6 ECTS)
- Advanced Power Electronics or Bio‑Electronic Interfaces (6 ECTS, choose one)
- Systems Verification and Functional Safety (6 ECTS)
- Project Studio 2 (6 ECTS): prototype an IoT edge device or a phased‑array module.
- Research Internship (12 ECTS) – in‑house lab or external firm.
- Master’s Thesis (30 ECTS) – experimental or design‑centric, defended at public viva.
Active, digital, and applied learning
Flipped lectures
Short videos and annotated slides arrive one week before class. You solve design problems—biasing a CMOS amplifier, coding a DMA driver, or modelling RF attenuation—in the classroom with guidance from professors and teaching assistants.
Studio sessions
Studios mimic real R&D sprints. Each group manages version control on GitLab, tracks tasks in JIRA, and conducts peer code reviews. End‑of‑sprint demos expose you to agile workflows common in tech firms.
Laboratory access
- Cleanroom (ISO 6): photolithography, metal deposition, and nano‑patterning.
- RF Anechoic Chamber: antenna gain measurements up to 110 GHz.
- EMI/EMC Suite: PCB radiated emission and immunity tests.
- Embedded Systems Lab: STM32, ESP32, and RISC‑V boards with logic analysers.
- Power Electronics Bench: SiC and GaN converters up to 20 kW.
Assessment model
- Weekly quizzes reinforce key equations and standards.
- Lab notebooks graded for clarity, data integrity, and root‑cause analysis.
- Oral defences where you justify design choices on a whiteboard.
- Written exams focusing on open‑ended circuit problems.
- Final thesis judged by an academic panel with optional industry opponent.
Funding routes: DSU grant and additional scholarships
DSU grant essentials
- Tuition waiver for qualifying incomes.
- Annual stipend up to €6,000.
- Daily meal vouchers.
- Discounted housing.
Other scholarships for international students in Italy
- Excellence Awards (€2,500–€5,000).
- Women in Tech Bursary.
- Green Electronics Thesis Grant.
- Erasmus+ mobility funds.
Research collaboration and industrial links
Active EU projects include neuromorphic organics, MIMO radar for autonomous vessels, and flexible ECG wearables. Companies such as STMicroelectronics, Open Fiber, and ABB host internships and recruit graduates. Career fairs, mock interviews, and CV clinics run each semester.
Soft‑skill and leadership development
- Engineering Ethics: supply‑chain transparency and e‑waste.
- Project Management: agile sprint planning and risk registers.
- Public Speaking: four filmed technical pitches with feedback.
- Intellectual Property: patents, open hardware, and licensing.
These modules ensure you can bridge invention and deployment.
Accreditation and global mobility
The LM‑29 follows EUR‑ACE standards at Level 7 of the European Qualifications Framework. Graduates can sit the Italian State Exam for Professional Engineer, apply for registration under FEANI, or progress seamlessly to PhD programmes.
A week in the life
Expect three to four hours of lectures each morning, followed by afternoon lab shifts or studio meetings. Evenings often feature Italian‑language classes, sports sessions, or career‑office events. This rhythm balances theory, practice, and personal growth without overwhelming non‑native speakers.
Alumni impact
- Alessia (Nigeria): built a flexible ECG sensor, secured DSU grant, now PhD candidate at ETH Zurich.
- Rajat (India): designed a 60 GHz antenna array, joined Ericsson’s 6G team.
- Maria (Brazil): co‑authored a Nature Electronics article on neuromorphic polymers, won Marie Curie fellowship.
Application checklist
- Bachelor’s degree in electronics, electrical engineering, or physics (180 ECTS or equivalent).
- Transcript with 24 ECTS in maths and 12 ECTS in circuits/signals.
- English proof: IELTS 6.0, TOEFL iBT 80, or prior English‑medium degree.
- Europass CV.
- 700‑word motivation letter.
- Passport scan and photo.
Continuous improvement
Student feedback recently led to a new module on Rust for embedded safety, extended cleanroom hours, and a state‑of‑the‑art vector‑network analyser for mm‑wave teaching. Your voice shapes the coming year’s curriculum.
Key takeaways
- Comprehensive English‑medium curriculum: semiconductor physics, embedded systems, RF, and power electronics.
- World‑class labs inside a public Italian university with income‑linked fees.
- DSU grant and merit awards make costs comparable to tuition‑free universities Italy.
- Strong research and corporate partnerships ensure quick job placement.
- Soft‑skill training builds leadership, ethics, and communication strength.
Ready for this programme?
If you qualify and we still have a spot this month, we’ll reserve your place with ApplyAZ. Our team will tailor a set of best-fit majors—including this course—and handle every form and deadline for you. One upload, many applications, guaranteed offers, DSU grant support, and visa coaching: that’s the ApplyAZ promise. Start now and secure your spot before this month’s intake fills up.
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