Students interested in an exchange at the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano have first to contact the study abroad offices at their home universities. The School accepts exchange students nominated by its partner universities only. After being nominated by their home universities, students will receive a link to an online application form. Students have to provide a CV, portfolio and a transcript of records as attachments. Once the application is completed and if approved, students will receive an official letter of acceptance.

Application dates

Students may apply from 1st April to 30th April for Autumn arrivals and from 1st October to 31th October for Spring arrivals.

Language requirements

Although no official test records of Italian or English are required, we expect nominated students to be proficient in English and have at least a basic knowledge in Italian in order to fulfill the course assignments. We remind you that all our Bachelor courses are in Italian.

For more details about the application and nomination process, please check: http://www.polinternational.polimi.it/exchange/

Courses Selection

Exchange students registered in the School of Design must take the majority of the courses within this School. However, it is possible for exchange students to take a maximum of 10 or 12 ECTS from another School, just consider these courses will be subject to approval by the relevant School. Check the timetable before choosing those courses to avoid overlapping.

A normal full workload at Politecnico di Milano is 30 credits (ECTS) per semester. This normally means a program of 3 or 4 courses per semester. Exchange students can select minimum 6 credits and maximum 30-36 credits per semester. 

Exchange students should identify their main program and level at the application stage, and will need to register to at least one course from that program. If required we may need to correct the application accordingly with the student’s study field and level.

Exchange students at bachelor level can select and mix courses from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of Bachelor, considering that: 

1st year courses are usually at an introductory level and may not require much previous knowledge or study in the subject. 2nd and 3rd year courses will normally require some previous study in the subject. 

Most of our courses at Bachelor level are held in Italian language, some of them are available to offer and academic support in English. However, we recommend students to have some basic Italian knowledge in order to fulfill the course assignments.

Exchange students at Master level can select and mix courses from the 1st and 2nd year of Master.

Master Level courses will be available only to Master Level students and to Bachelor level students only if they have already attended at least 3 years of University. Priority in the Master courses will be given to Master Level students.

To know more about our academic system and courses please see:

Study at POLIMI SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Courses Availability and Registration

The study plan registration will be open before arrival, and students will receive the confirmation and approval of the courses before the semester starts.

Most of the courses are available but have a limited number of places. Due to possible timetable clashes, changes in scheduling or high demand for popular courses, it is not possible to guarantee access to all the courses, therefore exchange students are encouraged to identify some reserves that can be used if necessary.

International Mobility Unit
Bovisa Campus
Via Lambruschini 15 (building 20), 20158 Milano
Hours: Mon-Wed 10.00am-12.30pm only upon appointment through the Online Services or Polimi App
phone +39.02.2399.4488 Tuesday and Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
email: exchange-bovisa@polimi.it 
doubledegrees@polimi.it; doubledegrees.design@polimi.it 

RELE’ Office – Presidenza delle Scuola del Design
Bovisa Campus
Via Candiani 72 - Via Durando 10 - building B1, 20158 Milano
email: rele@polimi.it