Overview

The University of Messina opens one English-taught, single-cycle Master's degree programme — Italy's equivalent of an integrated MD — to candidates who sit the Messina IMAT 2026 admission test, governed by Ministerial Decree No. 1005 of 6 August 2026. The call for admission for A.Y. 2026/2027 (Prot. n. 0108175 del 26/08/2026) is digitally signed by the Rector, Prof. Giovanna Spatari, and covers:

• Medicine and Surgery (Classe LM-41), taught in English — a single-cycle Master's degree

The test is the same one used for the single-cycle degree programmes in Medicine and Surgery, Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics, and Veterinary Medicine taught in English across Italy, with identical content at every test location.

This guide walks through what the call actually says about the Messina IMAT 2026 process: who can apply, exactly what's due and when, how the test and rankings work, and what happens after a candidate wins a seat. For how this fits the national picture, see the IMAT 2026 hub.

Seats available

The Messina IMAT 2026 admission call runs under Italy's numero programmato (capped-place) system, taught entirely in English. 116 places are available for 2026/2027, split across two candidate categories, per Ministerial Decree No. 1005/2026 as reproduced in Art. 2 of the call:

Choosing Messina as a first preference locks in the test location for candidates sitting the test in Italy — candidates must sit the test wherever their first choice is, with no exceptions. The test can also be sat at a foreign venue listed in the ministerial decree's Table A. For how Messina's seat count compares elsewhere, see Locomotive's full list of IMAT universities in Italy.

Who's eligible

Candidates in possession of an upper secondary school diploma issued by Italian educational institutions (per Ministerial Decree No. 270/2004), or another qualification obtained abroad and recognised as suitable, may apply for admission. The University reserves the right to carry out checks, at any time, under Articles 71 and 72 of Presidential Decree No. 445 of 28 December 2000 on the truthfulness of the data submitted on the platform — supplying untrue data, or lacking the admission requirements above, results in forfeiture of the right to enrolment.

EU candidates and non-EU candidates residing in Italy

Ranked on the single national merit ranking list, drawn up by CINECA and shared across every participating Italian university.

Non-EU candidates residing abroad

Ranked on a separate list defined at local level by the University of Messina, rather than the shared national list used by the EU/Italy-resident contingent. Test registration on Universitaly is carried out directly by the candidate and is not conditional on university pre-enrolment procedures at diplomatic-consular representations having already started — but those separate pre-enrolment and (where applicable) study-visa procedures still have to be started and completed by their own established deadlines.

This call does not state a mandatory minimum English-certificate requirement at enrolment (unlike some other Italian universities' bandi) — check the programme's own regulations and information pages for any language requirement that may apply at enrolment.

The full Messina IMAT 2026 deadline calendar

The call structures the post-test process into three clearly named steps — publication of scores and rankings, enrolment and scrolling, and scrolling publication — and this table follows that same order.

All deadlines run on Italian time unless noted. The 4-day enrolment window excludes Saturdays and public holidays, per the call.

How to apply, by candidate category

Registration for the ministerial admission test runs entirely through Universitaly (www.universitaly.it), the same mechanics used for every Italian university offering the IMAT (see the IMAT 2026 hub for the general national process). Messina's call adds the following category-specific detail.

All candidates, at registration

1. Register on Universitaly between 26 August 2026 and 9 September 2026, 15:00 Italian time.
2. Self-declare, per Art. 46 of DPR 445/2000, any recognised language certificate held (per Annex 3 of Ministerial Decree No. 1005/2026) — the University reserves the right to verify this at any stage.
3. Indicate, in order of preference, the locations to compete for — irrevocable after 15:00 on 9 September 2026; only the last confirmation submitted by that time is valid.
4. The first-choice location automatically becomes the test venue if sitting the test in Italy. Testing abroad requires selecting one of the foreign locations in Table A of the ministerial decree.
5. Pay the test participation fee via the procedures indicated on Universitaly — payment without the online registration receipt doesn't entitle a candidate to sit the test.

Non-EU candidates residing abroad

1. Complete the Universitaly test registration above — carried out directly by the candidate, independent of any consular pre-enrolment step.
2. Separately, start and formalise university pre-enrolment procedures at the diplomatic-consular representations by the deadlines set for that track (see universitaly.it/studenti-stranieri and international.unime.it/study-us/application-and-admission).

Full requirements are set out in Art. 5 of the official call.

Test day & format

A single test of identical content at every location: 60 multiple-choice questions (five options each, one correct answer), completed in a maximum of 100 minutes:

• Reading skills and knowledge acquired in studies — 4 questions
• Logical reasoning and problems — 5 questions
• Biology — 23 questions
• Chemistry — 15 questions
• Physics and mathematics — 13 questions

The test takes place on 29 September 2026, starting at 1:30 p.m. Italian time, at Italian universities as well as at the foreign locations in Table A of the ministerial decree. The exact classroom location within Messina is announced by a subsequent notice on the University Portal — the call itself doesn't give a venue address, so check that notice closer to the date rather than assuming a location.

The methods of carrying out the test are set out in the Classroom Regulations, Annex B to the call. Grounds for cancellation of the test include: sitting the test in a classroom other than the one assigned (unless authorised by the Examination Commission and minuted); bringing in or using mobile phones, PDAs, smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, earphones, webcams or similar equipment, manuals, school textbooks or reproductions of them, handwritten notes or reference material; placing a signature or mark (candidate's or Commission member's) on the answer form, front or back; interacting with other candidates or attempting to copy or exchange material, including personal data or answer forms; and using a pen, pencil or any writing instrument during the personal-data-sheet and answer-form insertion procedure to change, add to, or correct the answer form. Cancellation is ordered by the Commission appointed by Rector's Decree.

Full conduct rules are set out in Art. 7 of the official call — see also Locomotive's IMAT 2026 hub for the general national format.

Scoring, minimum eligibility & tie-breaks

Out of a maximum 90 points:

• +1.5 points per correct answer
• −0.4 points per incorrect answer
• 0 points for a question left unanswered

To be eligible for admission and included in the ranking list, EU candidates and non-EU candidates residing in Italy (Art. 39(5)) must obtain a minimum of 20 points. This threshold does not apply to non-EU candidates residing abroad, who are eligible with a score above zero, provided they gave at least one answer.

Eligible candidates are admitted in descending order of score. In the event of a tie:

1. The higher subject score prevails, checked in this order: Biology, then Chemistry, then Physics and Mathematics, then Logical Reasoning and Problems, then Reading Skills and Knowledge Acquired in Studies.
2. If still tied, possession — by the registration closing date — of a recognised language certificate (Annex 3 of Ministerial Decree No. 1005/2026), as self-declared at registration, prevails.
3. If still tied between a candidate with a certified disability of 66% or more (or certified under Art. 3(3) of Law No. 104/1992) and a candidate without, preference goes to the disabled candidate.
4. Except where the disability tie-break in point 3 applies, any further tie is resolved in favour of the younger candidate.

The eligibility condition for admission applies only to this selection procedure — it creates no right regarding access to later years of the course.

"Assigned" vs "Reserved" vs "Waiting": securing your place

Based on each candidate's score, CINECA draws up a single national ranking list for EU and non-EU candidates residing in Italy; the ranking list for non-EU candidates residing abroad is defined at local level by the University. The process runs in three steps: publication of scores and rankings, enrolment and scrolling, and scrolling publication.

The day after the enrolment deadline, by 12:00 noon, the University notifies CINECA of enrolled students. On that same day and deadline, all other candidates — except those already enrolled, withdrawn, or in “sold out” status — must confirm, via their Universitaly reserved area, that they wish to remain on the ranking list, under penalty of forfeiture. The reason for a missed confirmation is irrelevant to the outcome. Once these communications and confirmations are processed, CINECA publishes the scrolling (ranking update); the first is due on 3 November 2026, and subsequent updates repeat the same procedure and timing.

Candidates with previous university careers who want to join a year after the first don't sit this admission test at all — they instead follow the separate “Call for enrolment in years subsequent to the first for degree programmes with limited access at national level, A.Y. 2026/2027”, published on the University's institutional website.

Enrolment & fees

ASSIGNED candidates, and RESERVED candidates choosing to enrol, must complete enrolment within the 4-day window described above, under penalty of forfeiture for ASSIGNED candidates.

The call notes that enrolment may be subject to the University's ongoing right to verify, at any time, the truthfulness of declared data and admission requirements — false declarations or unmet requirements result in forfeiture of the right to enrolment.

Support for candidates with disabilities or SLDs

Candidates with a certificate of disability under Law No. 104 of 5 February 1992, or a diagnosis of a Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) under Law No. 170 of 8 October 2010, may benefit — in taking the test — from the aids and/or compensatory measures provided for by the relevant legislation, as well as additional time, and may be admitted to the test with the medical certification they hold, even if not updated due to the limits the Covid-19 pandemic placed on NHS activity (the University reserves the right to request updated documentation afterward).

1. Register on the ESSE3 platform at unime.esse3.cineca.it.
2. From the reserved area, submit a “Request for aids” and a “Disability/SLD Declaration”, no later than the deadline set out in the call. Requests received late or through any other channel cannot be accepted.
3. Candidates holding documentation in a foreign language must present certification of their disability or SLD status issued in their country of residence, accompanied by a sworn translation into Italian or English.

For questions, contact the Disability/SLD Services Operational Unit at servizi.dd@unime.it or by phone at 090/6765066. Full requirements are set out in Art. 6 of the official call.

Recognised language certificates (tie-break advantage)

Self-declaring one of the certificates below at registration (per Annex 3 of Ministerial Decree No. 1005/2026) gives a tie-break advantage in Messina's ranking, as described in the scoring section above. This is a national annex, so the same list applies at every Italian university sitting the IMAT, Messina included.

Certificates must be self-declared when registering on Universitaly to count for the tie-break; the University reserves the right to verify the declaration at any stage of the procedure.

Foreign qualification holders

Candidates holding a qualification obtained abroad may apply provided it is recognised as suitable for university admission. As with every other declared requirement, the University reserves the right to carry out checks, at any time, on the veracity of the data submitted — supplying untrue data, or lacking the underlying qualification, results in forfeiture of the right to enrolment.

Non-EU candidates residing abroad should additionally consult the ministerial procedures on entry, stay, enrolment and qualification recognition published on the Universitaly portal, and Messina's own international student pages, referenced in the how-to-apply section above.

What the test covers (Annex A syllabus, in brief)

The full syllabus (Annex A to the ministerial decree) is extensive and reproduced in full in Messina's call. In outline, the five sections test:

• Reading skills & knowledge acquired in studies: understanding English texts of different types, plus general knowledge from previous schooling.
• Logical reasoning & problems: completing a line of reasoning consistent with given premises, in symbolic or verbal form.
• Biology: chemistry of living organisms, cell structure and cycle, genetics, mutation and evolution, biotechnology, human anatomy/physiology, and bioenergetics.
• Chemistry: states/structure of matter, atomic structure and the periodic table, chemical bonding, stoichiometry, solutions and equilibria, kinetics, redox, acid-base chemistry, and organic chemistry fundamentals.
• Physics & Mathematics: number sets and algebra, functions, geometry, probability and statistics; physical quantities and measurement, kinematics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and electricity/electromagnetism.

See Annex A of the official call for the complete, itemised syllabus, identical to the syllabus used nationally for this test.

Contacts & who's in charge

All communications regarding the procedure are made through the University's institutional website and count as official notification to candidates — candidates are responsible for checking it regularly.

Frequently asked questions