Requirements for students of Politecnico di Torino

Direct admission

You are automatically admitted to a Master’s degree programme (after submitting your application for admission on the Apply@polito platform) if:

• you earned your Bachelor’s degree in 4 years or less⁽¹⁾, with a weighted average grade of all the exams ⁽²⁾  equal to or greater than 27/30;
• you earned your Bachelor’s degree in more than 4 years but less than 5 years⁽¹⁾, with a weighted average grade of all the exams ⁽²⁾  equal to or greater than 28/30.

The weighted average grade is calculated on all accrued course credits (graded on a scale of 30) counting towards the achievement of the Bachelor’s degree, after having subtracted the worst 28 credits. Please note that numbers are not rounded.

The duration of your university path is calculated on the number of academic years you have been enrolled for:  

• 1 year for each academic year of full-time enrolment;
• 0,5 year for each academic year of part-time enrolment

In the event of credit transfer, the duration of the university path is increased proportionally to the number of recognized credits (10-60 credits = 1 year, etc.). The worst 28 credits must be subtracted proportionally to the number of recognized credits. 

⁽¹⁾ you must graduate by December in order to meet the average grade requirement.
⁽²⁾ the weighted average is calculated as follows: (grade*credits) /credits

Admission by merit-based evaluation (suitable academic performance)

If you don't meet the admission requirements for direct admission, you need to go through a merit-based evaluation. You must upload a portfolio to the Apply@polito platform before submitting your application.

PLEASE NOTE: following the decisions of the Academic Senate of 30^th May 2020 and 23^rd March 2021, the academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21 will not count towards the total duration of your academic studies for the purposes of admission to the Master's degree programmes for academic year 2021/2022 and following years.

This table summarizes and provides an example for full-time students

Considering that you can submit your application for admission to a Master's degree programme after having earned 140 credits and that the average and duration requirements could change by the time you actually earn your Bachelor's degree, you have the possibility to submit your portfolio for a merit-based evaluation in order to fulfill the academic performance requirements. You can do so even if you are eligible for direct admission on the date of application submission.

Politecnico gives you the opportunity to go through this merit-based evaluation so that you have an additional chance to be admitted if your average grade decreases or your time to graduation increases.

Your offer of admission is only valid for the academic year in which you submitted your application. This means that if you are admitted to the programme but you eventually do not enrol, you will have to submit your application through the Apply@polito platform again for admission in future academic years.  

A specifically-appointed Committee will verify if you meet the curricular requirements for admission through the Apply@polito platform. 

The curricular requirements for admission are:

• Bachelor’s degree (class L-17 or class 4 ex D.M. 509/99), or
• three-year Bachelor's degree or university diploma, or
• other suitable academic qualification obtained outside Italy, recognized suitable according to the art. 6 c. 2 of D.M. 270/04.

Another mandatory curricular requirement is that you must have completed the compulsory courses and activities listed in the table of Class L-17 of the Bachelor’s degree programmes in Architecture.

The verification of the curricular requirements can have the following outcomes: a) admission, b) non-admission, c) admission with condition subject to the obligation to fill your curricular gaps by taking some courses assigned by the Teaching Committee.

Applicants from degree classes other than L-17: if the Teaching Committee recommends you take some courses to make up for your unfulfilled academic requirements (60 credits or below), you must pass these exams before submitting your portfolio for admission to a Master’s degree programme.  You need to enrol in Single courses for unfulfilled academic requirements. 

Please note: with this type of enrolment you can include in your Personal Study Plan only the courses assigned by the Teaching Committee.

Please check the tables below to find out, for each Master's Degree Programme of Politecnico di Torino and for each ordinamento (system), which Bachelor's degree programmes qualifies your for admission (continuing programmes).

You can apply for admission even if your Bachelor’s degree does not meet the above mentioned requirements. In this case, the competent Teaching  Committee will identify your unfulfilled academic requirements. You can make up for your unfulfilled academic requirements by enrolling in single courses.

You will have to attend these courses and pass the exams. You can be admitted to the Master's degree programme only after you pass these exams and the merit-based evaluation.

Applicants must have an English language certificate (B2 level), as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

For the purposes of obtaining an English language certificate (B2 level)*, reference is made to the table of certificate or exemptions accepted in substitution for the IELTS 5.5. published at the link: https://didattica.polito.it/cla/it/certificazioni. Reference is made to the “Tabella adottata in data 23/09/2019 - aggiornata in data 22/12/2022”

Cases of exemption 

• IB Diploma (International Baccalaureate https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/) only in case the entire path is taught in English, except foreign languages;
• Educational qualifications awarded by the European schools included in the Procedures for entry, residency and enrolment of international students and the respective recognition of qualifications, for higher education courses in Italy - Attachment 2^*, only if the first language (L1) is English;
• Non-Italian qualification recognized by the Italian Ministry of University and Research as equivalent to the Italian high school diploma (diploma di maturità), or university degree awarded by a school/university in which the medium of instruction is English and issued by USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, wherever the school/ university is located.
• Non-Italian qualification recognized by the Italian Ministry of University and Research as equivalent to the Italian high school diploma (diploma di maturità), or university degree awarded by a school/university in which the medium of instruction is English, only if based in one of the countries listed in Annex A

PLEASE NOTE: you can see your language certificates (obtained through the CLA and/or outside Politecnico) on your personal page of the Teaching Portal - Apply@polito portlet. This information is available under your personal data. Admission decisions are not based on the date of your language certificate but only on your language level.

N.B. A passing grade in the English language exam organized by the University Language Centre in academic year 2019/20 during the Covid19 emergency (registered under your personal information as LANGUAGE DECLARATION FOR COVID-19) DOES NOT qualify you for admission to a Master's degree programme.

The University reserves itself the right to check a sample of at least 5% of students by requesting the presentation of the original documentation to verify the certificate authenticity with the Certifing Boards.

What to do if you do not have English certificate

If you are certain to obtain certification by the matriculation deadline (recommended choice) you will be able to attend classes while waiting to matriculate. You will not need to register for individual classes.

Those, on the other hand, who already know that they will NOT obtain certification by the deadline to enrol but who meet the other admission requirements will be able to enrol in single courses (see the dedicated section) by the deadlines.

If you are a Bachelor’s student at Politecnico di Torino and you are going to graduate after the September 2023 graduation period (December 2023 or February 2024), it is possible to include courses in the annual personal study plan of the 1^st semester of the 1^st year of the Master's degree programme through the credit advancement procedure if the following requirements are met:

• entry requirements for the chosen Master's degree programme (curricular requirements, suitability of personal preparation);
• at the end of the autumn examination session (September), you only have a maximum of 23 credits still unearned* (including the English language exam and the Final essay) before achieving your Bachelor’s degree, and you have maintained the average grade required for admission, or, you passed the portfolio merit-based evaluation.

*Please note that these 23 unearned credits cannot include any courses related to Laboratories or Studios/Atelier.

If you meet the requirements for admission to a Master’s degree programme but you do not have an English language certificate you can advance the first-semester courses of the first year of the Master’s degree programme to which you have been admitted.

Please note:

• You have the chance to advance your Master’s courses one time only during your university path. If you advanced some of your Master’s courses but you do not earn your Bachelor’s degree by the end of the February graduation period, you will be able to take these exams in the Summer and Fall examination sessions (since these courses will not be deleted from your APSP); 
• students who advance Master's courses offered by the Collegio di Architettura will be required to attend some English-taught courses even if they do not have an English language certificate yet.
• early tuition (attended but not passed and/or passed and registered) will be reversed to the career of the chosen Master's degree programme;
• You can only advance first-semester courses belonging to the first year of a Master’s degree programme;
• If you pass the English language exam by September, the English exam credits will not count towards the ceiling of 23 unearned credits;
• Any internship, if it was included in the Annual Personal Study Plan of the academic year preceding the one for which you are applying, will not fall within the ceiling of 23 unearned credits, provided that the internship is registered in your trasncript by 31^st December.
• If you included some Master’s course in your APSP but at end of the September examination session you still have more than 23 unearned credits or you don’t have the average grade required for admission any more, these courses will be deleted from your APSP. If you don’t have the required average grade, you need to apply again for admission in the next academic year and wait for a new evaluation of the Admissions Committee.
• If you advanced some of your Master’s courses but you do not earn your Bachelor’s degree by the end of the February/March graduation period, you will be able to take these exams in the Summer and Fall examination sessions (since these courses will not be deleted from your APSP).

Procedure

• Send the application for admission to the Master's degree via the Apply@polito platform by the deadline;
• Wait for the positive evaluation for admission to the selected Master's degree programme;
• log into the personal study plan/annual personal study plan portlet on the personal page: the Master's degree courses to be advanced will appear in the list of exams that can be included in the annual personal study plan, marked in violet (in the personal study plan the courses will not be present) and must be included in the annual personal study plan by the deadline.

For information regarding the creation of the personal study plan/annual personal study plan, please refer to the "Create your APSP" section of the A.A. 2023/24 Student Guide.

Once a positive assessment has been obtained, those who do not proceed with the advancement of the Master's degree courses in the academic year for which they have applied for admission must re-apply through the Apply@polito platform for admission in subsequent academic years.

PLEASE NOTE: Having anticipated the Master's degree courses does NOT mean that you will automatically be enrolled in the course once you have obtained your first-level degree: enrolment must be completed from the Apply@polito platform's EVALUATIONS section by respecting the deadlines (see deadlines section).

Evaluation of personal academic performance

Politecnico di Torino sets up an Admissions Committee appointed by Rector 's decree in charge of assessing if applicants’ academic performance is suitable for admission to the Master’s degree programmes offered by the Collegio di Architettura.  

The Committee verifies if applicants meet the specific admission requirements (weighted average grade and portfolio) and have the skills and inclination for the learning objectives of the Master’s degree programme they are applying for.

For this reason, within the deadline of submission of the application, you must include a portfolio (max. 20 MB) in your application and you must upload it to the Apply@polito platform.

The Admissions Committee evaluates your Portfolio.

The submission of the application is subjected to the uploading to the portfolio.

The result of this evaluation (positive or negative) is published on your personal page of the Apply@polito platform.

Evaluation criteria

Your application is assessed based on two criteria (for a maximum of 60 points):

• your weighted average grades of the exams you passed at the time of application (max 20 points)
• your portfolio content (max 40 points) – see attached instructions

The Admissions Committee evaluates your portfolio based on the following criteria:

• consistency of your portfolio with the content of the degree programme you are applying for (see evaluation specific criteria);
• novelty of content;
• overall quality;
• argument and graphic skills;
• use of specific language consistent with the degree programme you are applying for.

The guidelines to write the portfolio (compulsory for all applicants coming from other Universities and for applicants of Politecnico di Torino who do not meet the requirements for the direct enrolment) are availabl here.

The evaluations is positive if your score is ≥ 36 points..

The result of the evaluation of the portfolio will be published by 6^th September 2023 in the section "Evaluations” of the Apply@polito portlet.

If you are admitted to the programme (positive evaluation) and you meet the other admission requirements, you must enrol before the deadline.

Specific evaluation criteria

Architecture construction city

Regarding the Master’s Degree Program in Architecture construction city, the Admissions Commmittee will evaluate the following aspects::

• ability to control the fundamental elements of the distributive organization, of the structural and technological conception of an architectonical project;
• ability to use the basic technical means and the ways of representation of the architectural design;
• control of the basic means needed to read the morphological and technical aspects of architectural works in their different scalings;
• mastery of the specific languages of the architectonical project and the historical-critical sciences related to Architecture;
• knowledge of the principles of Technical Physic;
• prior knowledge of the principles of Urban planning;
• ability to read and describe the multidimensionality of the urban phenomena related to an architectonical project.

It is also possible to write the portfolio in English.

Architecture for heritage

For the Master’s degree programme in Architecture for heritage, the Admissions Commmittee will evaluate the following aspects::

• ability to design in architectural and urban scaling related to a configured context;
• basic skills in heritage preservation;
• appropriate knowledge of History of Architecture;
• knowledge of the tools and forms of representation of architecture;
• knowledge of Architecture’s core technologies;
• knowledge of the principles of Technical Physic;
• knowledge of real estate subjects theories and tools for Architecture and Urban planning.

It is also possible to write the portfolio in English.

Architecture for sustainability

For the Master’s degree programme in Architecture for sustainability, the Admissions Commmittee will evaluate the following aspects:

• ability to critically interpret an architectural and urban project;
• ability to describe the phenomena related to architectural planning;
• grasp of specific language of architecture;
• skills in graphic representation;
• prior knowledge of architecture’s breakthrough technologies;
• knowledge of the principles of Technical Physic;
• prior knowledge of the principles of sustainability used in architecture.

It is also possible to write the portfolio in English.