Services
classe

Language courses

There are several opportunities that the University of Padua offers to students and Unipd staff to learn or improve their foreign language skills.

In addition to the many activities and tools offered by the University Language Centre - Cla, Unipd also provides courses thanks to the Istituto Confucio in Padova and promotes interlinguistic and intercultural dialogue through the Arqus university alliance, of which it is a member and which organises Arqus Cafè, informal virtual meetings for students.

In addition, the European Commission offers online linguistic support (OLS) on the EU Academy platform for students with an Erasmus+ mobility grant.
OLS includes a placement test at the beginning of the stay and optional courses before and during the stay.

University Language Centre

The University Language Centre promotes knowledge of the modern languages taught at the University and of Italian as a foreign language, also for external users; it organises courses, supplementary teaching activities, self-learning opportunities, and language proficiency assessments of various types and levels. It guides students as well as academic and university staff in learning and developing their foreign language skills. 

Foundation Year
A new intensive course for the IELTS English certification

The intensive course will take place from 9 to 30 September 2026. Registrations are open until 19 August. Please note: places are limited!
The Unipd community is entitled to a reduced registration fee.

Find out more and enrol

The Cla expands the range of language certifications recognised internationally and offers the opportunity to take the tests and attend preparation courses for:

  • English certification IELTS
  • German certification TestDaF
  • Italian for foreigners certification CILS

The CLA - University Language Centre of the University of Padua organises every year free language courses for students awarded (1st and 2nd call) an Erasmus mobility grant.

The Erasmus OUT intensive language courses last 30 hours and are offered in the following languages: French, English, Portuguese, Spanish and German.

The University Language Centre offers annual Academic English courses to PhD students of the University of Padua from a specific cycle. The courses are free of charge and are intended exclusively for those enrolled in a PhD from the cycles indicated for each academic year. 

All the information is published on the page: https://cla.unipd.it/en/language-courses/english-for-phd/

English-language activities for teaching staff

As part of the project ACLAIM - Academic Language for Iternationalisation and Multilingualism, the CLA organises activities in English for University teaching staff. 

The activities are free of charge and are intended primarily for lecturers responsible for courses taught in English.

These include in particular:

  • Intensive course “Communicating and teaching in English”
  • Short courses
  • One-to-one service “Lecturer Support Service”
  • Conversation sessions

Registration is completed online and remains open until all places are filled. 

Detailed information on the types of activities and their respective deadlines can be found on the CLA page dedicated to the project.


University Language Centre - Teaching Office

via Venezia, 16 (4th floor) – Padua
tel. +39 049 827 6185
didattica.cla@unipd.it

Open to the public: Monday to Friday from 9.30 to 13.00