MBBS Scholarships in Italy for Indian Students (2026/27)

A scholarship for MBBS in Italy usually means the regional DSU scholarship, which is awarded on family income rather than marks. This page sets out, for each public university teaching Medicine and Surgery in English in 2026/27, the DSU body, its family ISEE limit and top grant, who can apply and who submits, and the university's own awards.

Every figure comes from the 2026/27 calls and fee rules, or from the latest ones where a cell names an earlier year, as read for our DSU and university pages on 28 and 29 September 2026. Each row links to its source, and where our sources did not show a figure, the table says "not verified".

In short

• Yes, there are scholarships: the main scholarship for MBBS in Italy is the regional DSU scholarship, awarded on family income. At the 17 public universities teaching Medicine in English, 14 bodies award it in 2026/27, with family ISEE limits from €22,500 (₹24.7 lakh) to €28,339.88 (₹31.1 lakh).
• What it pays: the top grant for a student living away from home reaches €8,248 (₹9.1 lakh) a year at Milan and Milano-Bicocca. Winners are usually exempt from the university contribution, so study can be tuition-free for eligible students.
• Who and when: students from countries like India can apply at every body whose call we read, and at 12 of the 14 the student submits from their own account. The 2026/27 windows run from 10 June to 30 September 2026; on that pattern, the 2027/28 calls come in spring and summer 2027.
• Other awards: Bari and Milano-Bicocca fund their own awards open to single-cycle degrees. MAECI and Invest Your Talent, as our guides describe them, do not list Medicine and Surgery.
• ApplyAZ: ApplyAZ, with offices in Milan and India, works only with Italian public universities and takes care of the whole process for eligible students from countries like India: university checks, applications, Universitaly pre-enrolment, the DSU scholarship and the visa file.

Key facts: MBBS scholarships in Italy, 2026/27

Is there a scholarship for MBBS in Italy for Indian students?

Yes. The main scholarship for MBBS in Italy is the regional DSU scholarship (diritto allo studio universitario, the right to university study), awarded on family income rather than marks. For 2026/27, 14 bodies award it at the 17 public universities teaching Medicine and Surgery in English, and students from countries like India can apply.

National rules for 2026/27 cap the family ISEE at €28,339.88 (₹31.1 lakh) and set a minimum grant of €7,171.11 (₹7.9 lakh) a year for a student living away from home. Each body sets its own limit and amounts within those rules.

Sources: MUR Directorial Decree 176 and Directorial Decree 175 of 10 February 2026.

The grant comes as cash, often with meals and a bed, and most universities exempt winners from their yearly contribution. The DSU body decides the scholarship: at Milan, Milano-Bicocca and Padua that body is the university itself, and elsewhere it is a regional agency.

Other routes are narrower: a few universities fund their own awards, and the national MAECI and Invest Your Talent schemes are covered below. Our DSU scholarship guide explains the system across all regions, and our MBBS in Italy guide covers the degree itself.

How much does the DSU scholarship pay at each medical university?

For 2026/27, the top yearly grant for a student living away from home runs from €3,338 (₹3.7 lakh) in cash at DSU Toscana, which adds a bed and meals, to €8,248 (₹9.1 lakh) at Milan and Milano-Bicocca. The table gives each university's DSU body, family ISEE limit, top grant, application rule and own awards.

How to read it: "derived" marks a figure we worked out from the call's base amount and its percentage rule, and "gross" means the bed and meals come out before cash is paid. "Not verified" marks what our sources did not show: ERSU Messina's grant table, EDiSU Pavia's income limit and its application rules.

Grants fall as the family ISEE rises towards the limit, so the top grant goes to families in the lowest band. Florence has no places for non-EU applicants living abroad in 2026/27, and our data does not cover Tor Vergata's course in Tirana, Albania. Places and fees for every course are on our list of medical universities in Italy.

Sources: each body's 2026/27 call, linked in the DSU column and in the Sources list, and each university's award page, linked in the last column, as read for our DSU and university pages on 28 and 29 September 2026. Rupees at €1 = ₹109.90 (FBIL, 21 September 2026).

Who qualifies for a DSU scholarship for MBBS in Italy?

A student qualifies when the family's ISEE and ISPE are within the body's limits, the student enrols at a university the call covers and holds no degree at the same or a higher level. Merit comes later: first-year students keep the grant by earning a set number of credits, and Milano-Bicocca also sets an entry mark.

• Family income and assets. The ISEE (income) and ISPE (assets) must sit within the body's limits. For a family abroad they are rebuilt from home-country documents, as the ISEE parificato section below explains.
• Enrolment. Several calls take the application before enrolment, which then follows by the body's date. ER.GO sets 19 November 2026 for Bologna first-years and 31 March 2027 for Parma, and DiSCo Lazio 10 February 2027.
• A first degree at that level. Holders of a degree at the same or a higher level, Italian or foreign, are excluded at most bodies, including ERSU Cagliari, ERSU Catania, DSU Toscana, ERDIS Marche and Padua.
• Living away from home. ADISU Puglia, ERSU Cagliari, ADISURC, DSU Toscana, ERDIS Marche and DiSCo Lazio treat a student whose family lives abroad as living away, which carries the highest grant. Padua applies its distance and 10-month housing test to every family, and ADISURC asks for a bed or a lease of at least 10 months.
• No second grant. ADISU Puglia excludes students who hold another grant for the same year, from a public or private body.
• Entry mark at Milano-Bicocca. First-year single-cycle students need a school-leaving mark of at least 70 out of 100, with foreign marks converted by the ministry's formula.

Admission is separate: the university decides it through the IMAT, and the DSU body decides the scholarship.

Sources: 2026/27 calls of ER.GO, DiSCo Lazio, ADISU Puglia, ADISURC, University of Padua and Milano-Bicocca.

Can non-EU students living abroad apply for a DSU scholarship?

Yes. None of the 13 bodies whose 2026/27 calls we read excludes non-EU students living abroad, and our data for EDiSU Pavia does not say either way. At 12 of the 14 bodies the student submits the application from their own online account, so we prepare it and sit with the student while it is submitted.

DSU Toscana states that it has authorised no agency to collect or submit applications, and EDISU Piemonte's form is signed by the student with a personal access code. EDISU Piemonte also excludes an applicant whose study visa is not uploaded by 19 October 2026, or by 30 November 2026 for its December ranking. For ERSU Messina and EDiSU Pavia our data does not show who submits, so the table says "not verified".

One rule ties the scholarship to the IMAT. A non-EU applicant living abroad is ranked only at the university where they pre-enrolled on Universitaly, so that choice also fixes the DSU body.

Sources: MUR Decree 1005 of 6 August 2026, art. 2(3); Universitaly.

At Padua, non-EU first-year students are ranked separately and funded from a reserve of at most 7% of the scholarship funds, so being eligible is not the same as receiving a grant. ER.GO also ranks non-EU first-years with a family abroad separately, by ascending ISEE.

When do you apply for an MBBS scholarship in Italy?

In summer, before the IMAT result. The 2026/27 DSU calls opened between 10 June and late July 2026 and closed between 22 July and 30 September. Only the University of Milan, Milano-Bicocca and Padua are still open, until 30 September 2026, and no 2027/28 call is out yet.

If the pattern holds, the 2027/28 DSU calls open in June and July 2027, and the national calls close in spring. The 2026/27 edition of Invest Your Talent closed on 11 May 2026, as our Invest Your Talent guide records, and our MAECI scholarship guide covers the Ministry's call.

University calls run on their own dates. Padua's 2027/28 excellence scholarship calls are due in November 2026, and Bari's own 2026/27 call closed on 31 July 2026, after an application to the university by 30 June.

For a Medicine applicant, the DSU application goes in weeks or months before the IMAT lists, for the university chosen at pre-enrolment. In 2026 every window closed by 30 September, while the first non-EU lists are due on 26 October 2026, at Bologna, Padua, Cagliari and Marche Polytechnic.

We track every call for the students we work with and start the family documents before the window opens, because legalisation and translation take weeks.

Sources: the calls linked in the table; our IMAT cut-offs and seats page and IMAT results guide for the list dates.

What does ISEE parificato mean for an Indian family?

It is the Italian family income and assets figure, the ISEE, rebuilt from home-country documents, because a family living abroad cannot get a normal ISEE. The documents show the household, its income and its assets, translated into Italian and legalised, and a CAF (tax assistance centre) or the DSU body turns them into the figure.

Bodies differ in who does the calculation. ERSU Cagliari, ERSU Catania, ERSU Messina, DiSCo Lazio, ADISURC and Padua use a CAF, often only an approved one, and EDISU Piemonte only its own affiliated CAAF. ER.GO, ADISU Puglia, DSU Toscana and ERDIS Marche assess the documents themselves.

Two universities ask a family in India for no papers at application. The University of Milan places families from countries like India in its lowest income band, and Milano-Bicocca works out the ISEE itself, at €6,169.11 (₹6.8 lakh), for a family living wholly in India.

India is not on the list of particularly poor countries that DiSCo Lazio, ADISURC, EDISU Piemonte and ERSU Catania apply, so an Indian family's full income and assets are assessed. Depending on the body, the documents cover the family's 2024 or 2025 income and its assets at the end of that year.

The ISEE parificato can also set tuition, but not everywhere. Catania, Naples Federico II and Messina charge families abroad a flat or country-group fee, yet their DSU bodies still ask for it. We prepare the family file for each route, and our medical universities list shows each university's fee rule.

How is the DSU scholarship paid?

In instalments, after enrolment, with the balance tied to first-year credits. For 2026/27, most bodies pay first-year students 20% in November and 30% in December 2026, or half by 31 December, and the rest once the credits are earned. Meals, and a bed where one is given, are often deducted first.

Two rules matter most for families abroad. ERDIS Marche pays non-EU first-years nothing until the credits are reached, unless the student gives a surety bond or the family filed an Italian tax return for 2024. ADISURC holds back payment until the ISEEUP arrives.

Padua needs an IBAN in the student's own name by 31 October 2026 and an Italian address, and the University of Milan pays only to the Carta La Statale student card. ERSU Cagliari and ERSU Catania work out the first instalment at a lower rate, such as the commuter rate.

Sources: the payment and credit articles of each 2026/27 call, linked in the table and in the Sources list, as summarised on our DSU body pages.

Can MBBS in Italy be tuition-free with a DSU scholarship?

Yes, at most of the 17 universities: a DSU winner is exempt from the university contribution or gets it back, so study can be tuition-free for eligible students. The stamp duty of €16 (₹2,000) usually stays. Tor Vergata is the clear exception for a family with income abroad and no ISEE.

Totals include the regional tax and the stamp duty, as on our medical universities list, where Sapienza's and Vanvitelli's figures are 2025/26 amounts. Bari's country-group amounts sit in an annex we could not read, so we work out that figure for each student before enrolment.

Several universities already charge families abroad little, such as €167 (₹18,000) at Naples Federico II, so the cash grant matters more there than the exemption.

Sources: each university's fee rules, linked in the table, as read for our university pages.

Do Italian universities give their own scholarships for medicine?

A few do, but most university awards are for master's degrees. For 2026/27, Bari offered 40 scholarships of €5,000 (₹5.5 lakh) a year, open to single-cycle degrees, and Milano-Bicocca 100 awards of €10,000 (₹11.0 lakh) a year for top applicants to its English-taught degrees, single-cycle included. Catania's and Turin's awards are for master's only.

Padua's International Excellence Scholarships, up to 76 awards of €8,000 (₹8.8 lakh) a year plus a fee waiver on English-taught degrees, are chosen from applications on apply.unipd.it; our data does not show whether the IMAT courses are included. Its 2027/28 calls are due in November 2026.

Federico II's latest Study in Naples call, for 2024/25, offered 26 two-year scholarships of €11,059.92 (₹12.2 lakh) gross each, and no newer call is posted. Messina refunds out-of-town students up to €2,000 (₹2.2 lakh) a year of rent through Casa UniME, and Marche Polytechnic cuts the contribution by at least 20% from the second year for students who meet its merit table.

Combining awards has limits. Bari's own scholarship cannot be combined with an ADISU Puglia or MAECI scholarship, and ADISU Puglia excludes students who hold another grant for the same year. The University of Milan's own €1,800 (₹2.0 lakh) awards go only to families above its DSU limit.

Sources: 40 scholarships for international non-EU students, 2026/27 call; Bicocca International Scholarship, 2026/27; Padua International Excellence Scholarship Programme, 2026/27; Study in Naples page, 2024/25 call. The Bicocca single-cycle scope is from its scholarship page; its call PDF did not open for us.

Can MAECI or Invest Your Talent pay for MBBS in Italy?

Not as far as our guides show. Our MAECI scholarship guide lists grants for master's degrees, PhD and research, AFAM and Italian language courses, and our Invest Your Talent guide covers English-taught master's in engineering, architecture and design, and economics and management. Neither lists a single-cycle degree such as Medicine and Surgery.

As our guides describe them, MAECI's master's grants ask for a bachelor's degree or its final year, and Invest Your Talent for a bachelor's degree completed by enrolment. Medicine and Surgery is a single-cycle degree entered through the IMAT, with no bachelor's degree first.

We follow both schemes' 2027/28 calls. For a Medicine student from countries like India, the DSU scholarship and any university award remain the realistic routes, and our guide to scholarships for Indian students covers study in Italy beyond medicine.

What are the limits of a DSU scholarship for MBBS in Italy?

The main limits are money, timing and credits. Funds can run out before every eligible non-EU first-year is paid, the application comes before the IMAT result, and at most bodies a first-year student with fewer than 20 credits by 30 November 2027 loses the grant and repays it.

Related guides: MBBS in Italy, medical universities in Italy, IMAT exam 2026, IMAT cut-offs and seats by university and public universities in Italy.

Frequently asked questions

Is the DSU scholarship for MBBS in Italy based on marks or on income?

On income first. The family ISEE and ISPE must sit within the body's 2026/27 limits, and first-year merit is checked later through credits, usually 20 by 10 August 2027. Milano-Bicocca also asks first-year single-cycle students for a school-leaving mark of at least 70 out of 100.

Can I apply for a DSU scholarship before my IMAT result?

Yes, and in 2026 the timing required it: every window closed by 30 September, while the first non-EU lists are due on 26 October. ER.GO, ADISU Puglia, the University of Milan and Milano-Bicocca take applications before enrolment, which then follows by each body's date.

Which DSU scholarships for medicine are still open for 2026/27?

On 29 September 2026, only three: the University of Milan until 23:59 on 30 September, and Milano-Bicocca and Padua until 30 September. The other eleven bodies have closed. Later dates at ERSU Catania, ERSU Messina, DiSCo Lazio and ADISURC are for family documents on applications already made.

Does the DSU scholarship include housing?

It depends on the body. DSU Toscana gives winners who asked for one a bed at no cost, and ERSU Catania a bed with no rent where one is available. ERDIS Marche provides a bed and meals and deducts them from the gross grant, while the University of Milan's scholarship includes no bed at all.

Do I have to repay the DSU scholarship?

Only if the first-year credits are missed. At most bodies, a student with fewer than 20 credits by 30 November 2027 loses the grant and repays what was paid. Milan and Milano-Bicocca ask 35 credits by 10 August 2027 for the full grant, and DSU Toscana 18 for Medicine.

Can I hold a DSU scholarship and a university scholarship together?

It depends on both calls: ADISU Puglia excludes students with another grant for the same year, and Bari's own scholarship cannot be combined with ADISU Puglia or MAECI. The University of Milan's own awards go only to families above its DSU limit. We read both calls before an application.

How much is the DSU scholarship in rupees?

At €1 = ₹109.90, the 2026/27 top grants for a student living away from home run from €3,338 (₹3.7 lakh) in cash at DSU Toscana, plus a bed and meals, to €8,248 (₹9.1 lakh) at Milan and Milano-Bicocca. The national minimum is €7,171.11 (₹7.9 lakh) a year.

How does ApplyAZ help with a scholarship for MBBS in Italy?

ApplyAZ, with offices in Milan and India, works only with Italian public universities. For eligible students from countries like India, we prepare the family documents and the DSU application with the student, and handle the IMAT file, Universitaly pre-enrolment and the visa file. The DSU body decides the scholarship.

Sources

• DSU calls for 2026/27: DiSCo Lazio, ER.GO, ERSU Catania, ERSU Messina, University of Milano-Bicocca, University of Milan, ADISU Puglia, ERSU Cagliari, DSU Toscana, EDISU Piemonte, ADISURC, ERDIS Marche, University of Padua; EDiSU Pavia from the University of Pavia's EDiSU page
• Our DSU body pages: DiSCo Lazio, ER.GO, ERSU Catania, University of Milan, ADISU Puglia, ERSU Cagliari, DSU Toscana, EDISU Piemonte, ADISURC, ERDIS Marche, University of Padua
• MUR Directorial Decree 175 and 176 of 10 February 2026, national DSU limits and amounts
• MUR Decree 1005 of 6 August 2026, art. 2(3), and Universitaly, international students
• Each university's fee rules and award pages, linked in the tables above
• Our MAECI scholarship guide and Invest Your Talent guide, for the national schemes
• Rupees at the FBIL reference rate of 21 September 2026, €1 = ₹109.90
• Written by İrem Yılmaz, Student Experience Lead at ApplyAZ. Published and last updated on 29 September 2026; facts verified on 28 and 29 September 2026.

Further reading

• MBBS in Italy: medicine in English at public universities
• Medical universities in Italy teaching in English
• IMAT cut-off scores and seats by university
• DSU scholarship in Italy, 2026/27
• MAECI scholarship: who can apply and what it pays
• Scholarships in Italy for Indian students