Please note: Deadline extended to September 13, 2023. 

Call and further information (in Italian)

Who can participate to the contest?
All students under 29 who graduated from a master degree or single cycle degree programme, or any other equivalent degree, achieved at La Sapienza University of Rome within the last viable session of the academic year preceding the year of the announcement of the contest.

When will the call be published?
The call is published every year in April/May.

Where can the call be found?
The call is published on “Portale amministrazione trasparente” on “Albo pretorio concorsi”

What are the requirements?
• Candidates need to have graduated from Sapienza University of Rome
• They need to be 28 years old or younger by the announcement of the call
• They must obtain an official acceptance and/or invitation letter and/or a declaration of availability to admission from a hosting foreign institution or from a foreign supervisor, drafted on headed and certified paper

What kind of activities can be carried out abroad?
Third level studies or post-lauream specialization activities carried out in foreign or international university institutions located outside of Italy. Students without Italian citizenship must carry out these activities in a foreign country different from the one of origin.

How to contact the foreign institution? Is there a list of hosting countries?
There is no list of hosting countries or foreign institutions. The candidate must check the academic catalogues and programmes and he/she will contact the foreign institution according to his/her own preparation, skills and scientific interests.

How does the contest work?
The selection is based on curricular exams and on achieved titles.
A Selection Committee will be nominated for each disciplinary area. The committee will attribute score up to 100 points for the evaluation of each candidate. Once the applications are received, the Committee will meet and establish the selection criteria, following the guidelines of the call and the regulation of the contest. At the same time, the Committee will evaluate the consistency of the various applications within the CUN field for which they were initially presented by the candidates. The Committee can give up to 50 score for the candidate’s degree final grade, for his/her previously attained titles and his/her publications. The Committee will then officially report the reason for excluding any candidates. 
Suitable candidates will be contacted for an interview to verify the level of preparation in the selected disciplinary field, as well as the knowledge in the language requested by the hosting foreign institution.
The Committee can attribute up to 50 score for the interview.
A score under 35 points will be considered not sufficient.

How many months does the scholarship cover?
The scholarship covers a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months.
In the application, the candidate will indicate the number of months which he/she considers necessary for the scholarship to cover in order for him/her to complete his/her activity of specialization. However, this decision will pertain to the Committee.  

Can PhD students participate in the contest?
Yes. In case of PhD students without a PhD scholarship, he/she will benefit from the scholarship if he/she is authorized by the PhD Faculty board to suspend his/her doctoral studies for this activity of specialization abroad.
In case of a PhD student with a PhD scholarship, he/she will be able to benefit from the scholarship only by renouncing the PhD scholarship.

Can students enrolled in “Scuole di specializzazione” partecipate in the contest?
Yes, but they will be able to benefit from the scholarship only if they aren’t winners of other scholarships and only if authorized by the specialization school’s board.
Moreover, students who win a scholarship for “Scuola di specializzazione” cannot simultaneously benefit from the foreign specialization activity’s scholarship.

What are the CUN disciplinary areas?
CUNs are disciplinary areas that connect various degree classes homogeneously on the basis of the scientific fields that they share. CUNs define the thematic area of the activity proposed by the candidate.

Is it possible to apply for a CUN area for which you do not have the requested degree?
No, the application will be rejected if the candidate does not have a degree indicated in the referred CUN area. As a matter of fact, it will be considered incongruous or inconsistent with the area in question.

How to apply to the contest?
The application must be drafted in pdf format according to the model attached to the call; it must be sent exclusively by certified and accredited personal electronic mail (PEC) to: [email protected]; and must present the following attachments:

1. Official certification provided by the foreign institution or international university abroad for which the candidate wishes to apply (or a certified declaration provided by a professor of the same university) containing the acceptance or possible acceptability of the candidate to the chosen course of study or post-lauream specialization activity.
2. Self-declaration of his/her publications and previously attained titles (drafted in pdf according to the format mentioned in point 1).
3. Translation into Italian of the documentation released by the foreign or international institution mentioned in point 1 (only if the document was initially released in a language other than English).

What does the certification of acceptance released by the foreign or international institution must include?
The certification which the candidate will present (drafted according to a certified format, with the institution’s official signature and stamp) must contain the following indications:

• The name of the course, its internal structure and respective duration (if it is a course of study)
• The programme of the activities that will need to be completed (in case of a post-lauream specialization activity)

Where will it be published  the list of candidates admitted to the interview?
The list, which will also indicate the date and place where the interviews are going to take place, will be uploaded on the Sapienza website: “Portale amministrazione trasparente” on “Albo pretorio concorsi”, on the website of the respective call.
The selected candidates will also be informed via PEC (certified and accredited personal electronic mail).

Which documents should the selected candidates present?
The admitted candidates must produce the following documents:

• Self-declaration reporting to possess the compulsory requirements stated in the call, with the obligation to maintain them during the period in which the candidate will receive the scholarship
• A new certification released by the foreign institution indicating the starting and final date of the activity of specialization

Which guidelines should the scholarship holders attain to?
Scholarship holders cannot, under any circumstances, benefit from other scholarships during the period of specialization activity spent abroad, with the exception of those released by national or foreign institutions which, in the case of foreign stays, may contribute to integrate such activity.
Scholarship holders cannot possess, for the major part of the calendar year in which they will receive the scholarship, an income superior to € 7.750,000.

Starting from what date can the scholarship holders benefit from the scholarship?
The selected candidates can benefit from the scholarship starting from the day after the interview.
The activity of specialization must begin within the end of the calendar year after the one in which the contest has been promulgated.

What happens if the candidate refuses the scholarship?
The scholarship holder who wishes to renounce is expected to communicate his/her decision as soon as possible in order to allow the offices to contact the following successful candidates in the ranking list. If the candidate who refuses has already received the first instalment of the scholarship, he/she must return it.