Degree Programs in Florence, Italy

Florence is home to a handful of prestigious academic institutions, as well as dozens of smaller international universities where you might choose to pursue your degree abroad. The University of Florence is the city’s largest and most prestigious school, with 12 campuses hosting a student body of roughly 60,000 students. There are also many smaller art, design, and trade schools that offer great programs for a degree abroad in Florence.

Some of the most popularly pursued subjects by international students in Florence include art history, fashion, European studies, Italian language, and other areas of the liberal arts. Of course if you enroll full time at a local university, then you will have the luxury of choosing any degree path that is offered by the course catalogue, opening up your options to everything ranging from business and marketing to computer science.

Most local schools will expect you to speak the Italian language in order to pursue your degree abroad in Florence. However because there is traditionally such a large international student body in the city, there are also a growing number of English language programs to accommodate for this trend. Shorter graduate programs, in general, may be more likely to offer concentrated English-taught programs than a full undergraduate education.

Despite its prestigious international reputation, Florence is actually a fairly small city, with just about 380,000 people living in the city proper and roughly 1.5 million in the surrounding metropolitan area. Even so, because it is such a popular travel destination with many millions of visitors each year, Florence can feel quite crowded in its more popular tourist areas.

You’ll quickly learn to work around these and discover the unknown secrets of the city while earning your degree abroad in Florence. In addition to the famous museums and monuments that should be on anyone’s checklist (such as St. Peter’s Basilica, the Ponte Vecchio, and the Uffizi Gallery), there are tons of great restaurants, cafes, bars, and gelaterias off the map that beg to be discovered. As a student abroad, you’ll have the freedom to explore endlessly!

Florence is primarily a walking city, although there is also a fairly comprehensive bus system which connects to most major destinations around the metropolitan area. Florence is also a major transportation hub in itself, offering easy access to nearby Italian cities such as Rome or Milan in a matter of hours via train. Take advantage of your time pursuing a degree abroad in Florence to see as much of the country as possible!

No sense in beating around the bush, Florence can be an expensive city to live in. The longer you live there, however, you’ll learn the best ways to live on a budget. Cooking for yourself, staying away from tourist trips, and taking advantage of the great student deals in the city can all be great ways to cut costs. There are also hundreds of external scholarships that you can take advantage of to ease the burden of tuition!

Student dormitories, homestays, and off campus apartments are all examples of accommodation you might be offered while pursuing your degree abroad in Florence. If you enrolling in an undergraduate program, then you have a good opportunity to experiment with a variety of different living situations over your years abroad, such as entering directly into the dorms then moving into an apartment with classmates later. Real estate in Florence can be expensive, however, so you may end up hanging in the dorms longer than you think!

Unless you’re coming from within the European Union, then you’ll need to apply as well for a student visa in order to earn your degree abroad in Florence. Your study abroad program or host school will usually endorse you throughout this process, but in the meantime you can check out our Italian Embassy Directory for more information.

High Culture. Florence boasts one of the most impressive art collections of any city in the world, just a small part of its largesse reputation as a global capital of culture. Dating back to the Renaissance, it has lost little ground in this sense.

Italy Immersion. Earning your degree abroad in Florence is the opportunity to embrace fully the Italian language, people, and culture. Make a sincere effort to befriend locals during your time abroad; you won’t regret it!

Global Network. Lastly, you’ll have the chance to make friends and connections from all over the world while you earn a degree abroad in Florence. When leaving the country, you’ll never be alone again.

Pursuing a degree abroad in Florence is your opportunity to spend multiple years in a city which most people only get to pass through for a few days. Get ready to immerse yourself in one of the most passionate and artistically rich communities on the planet!