Reception and inclusion of people with refugee status
We support a range of initiatives for welcoming people with refugee status, asylum seekers and people fleeing their own country.
We invite students, teaching staff and professional staff to promote discussion and deeper understanding of migration, rescue and the reception of people with a history of migration, in order to bring the debate back to a climate of reasonableness and to foster full respect for human rights, a value at the heart of the university and civil society.
If you are a refugee or an asylum seeker and you have applied for asylum/international protection, and therefore hold a residence permit for asylum application, you may enrol in Unipd degree programmes (Bachelor's Degree Programme, Master's Degree Programme, single-cycle degree programme).
Your enrolment and the awarding of the qualification are, however, subject to the actual granting of refugee status or subsidiary protection and therefore to obtaining a residence permit for asylum or subsidiary protection. You will therefore need to provide a copy of your residence permit (or of the decision of the Territorial Commission recognising refugee status) before completing your studies.
Students with refugee status or subsidiary protection status recognised as such by the Italian Government may request the CIMEA Statement of Comparability free of charge.
More information is available on the CIMEA website.
Refugee students with little or no documentation can apply for the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees, a Council of Europe project.
The Passport is not a formal act of recognition of the qualification but provides a summary and an assessment of the candidate’s level of education, work experience and language skills, evaluated on the basis of the available information and a structured interview. It is a tool that helps the University to carry out the assessment of the qualification obtained.
To access the service, interested students must create their profile on the EQPR IT platform (in English).
More information is available on the Council of Europe website (link in English).
Exemption from tuition fees
Students with refugee status or subsidiary protection status as recognised by the Italian Government are entitled to a full exemption from the all-inclusive fee, including the pre-enrolment fee; they will only have to pay the stamp duty and the regional tax for the right to higher education.
To benefit from this provision, students must notify the Financial Aid Office by the deadline of the current academic year by sending an email to benefici.studenti@unipd.it (cc: unipd.rescuefund@unipd.it), attaching a document certifying their status.
- Italian Universities for Palestinian Students – IUPALS
- Unipd 4 Myanmar (a.a 2023/24)
- Unipd 4 Ukraine (a.a 2022/23)
- Unipd 4 Afghanistan (a.a. 2022/23)
In view of the exhibition "Out of Place", organised in collaboration with the University of Padua and displayed between June and July 2025, Fondazione Imago Mundi has decided to donate 30,000 euros in support of all students receiving Students at Risk, Unipd 4 Myanmar and Unicore scholarships who are currently enrolled at the University of Padua.
