Italy's 2026-2027 Scholarship Season Opens: A Roadmap for Documents, Sworn Translation and Apostille

The most critical period of the year has begun for students who want to pursue their university education in Italy on a scholarship. Regional scholarship calls (bando) are published between May and July 2026, and the application deadlines fall in August and September. With such a tight calendar, the most common factor delaying application files is not academic criteria, but the failure to complete the document, translation and apostille chain on time.

The 2026-2027 Period: Why You Should Act Now

The Diritto allo Studio Universitario (DSU) system in Italy is regulated by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and administered through regional bodies. According to information announced as of the time of writing, the minimum scholarship amounts for the 2026-2027 academic year have been updated in line with inflation by MUR decree. To give a concrete example, in the Tuscany region, DSU Toscana's scholarship call for the 2026/2027 academic year has been published and made available online. In other words, as you read this article, the application windows are effectively already open.

The calendar is now clear: for students enrolled or enrolling in bachelor's, master's and integrated programs, applications opened on 20 July and can be submitted until 1:00 p.m. on 7 September 2026. For doctoral and specialization programs, the application period runs from 25 September to 16 November 2026. These dates also apply to students who will complete their enrollment after subsequently passing the entrance exam; in addition, a scholarship supplement is foreseen for students admitted to international mobility programs. Considering that the apostille and translation process from Turkey can stretch over several weeks, waiting for the early-September deadline and starting to collect documents at the end of August is a serious risk.

DSU and MAECI: The Two Main Scholarship Channels

• DSU scholarship: This is the most widespread and comprehensive scholarship program in Italy; it is open to both Italian and foreign students, and since it is assessed based on income, it is independent of academic merit. In the 2025/2026 period, the national ISEE threshold was set at 27,948.60 euros; as of the publication date of this article, Tuscany's 2026/2027 call confirmed the economic criteria with an upper limit of 27,000 euros for ISEE and 60,000 euros for ISPE. For students coming from outside the city (fuori sede), the national minimum scholarship amount stood at 7,072.10 euros in the previous period, and no previously earned credit (CFU) requirement applied to first-year applications; for current amounts, the relevant region's official call should be taken as the reference.
• MAECI scholarship: The scholarship of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to announcements at the time of writing, offers a payment of around 1,200 euros per month for the 2026-27 period; it has two stages, an online form and an interview. Documents to be presented at the interview must be in Italian or English, and Turkish documents must go through sworn translation.

The scope of the DSU scholarship is not limited to cash payments alone. In addition to the financial contribution, scholarship winners gain free access to university cafeterias, accommodation in DSU dormitories for students coming from outside the city, and exemption from university tuition fees. In the Tuscany example, 1,917 dormitory places in Florence, 1,705 in Pisa and 1,200 in Siena have been announced for the coming academic year; if the number of eligible students exceeds the quota, a rent contribution of up to 3,150 euros per year is foreseen for students with a valid rental contract. For this reason, the scholarship file is an investment that directly affects not only your education but also your housing budget.

Which Documents Require Translation and Apostille?

The file of a student applying from Turkey typically contains two groups of documents. The first is academic documents: high school diploma or bachelor's degree, transcript and, if applicable, equivalence/suitability letters. The second is documents on economic status: since DSU applications are based on income criteria, official records regarding family members' income, property deeds, vehicles and bank information, as well as a family civil registry extract, are required. Indeed, the call texts define the economic requirements through the ISEE and ISPE indicators, and for students coming from abroad, these indicators are calculated using the documents they bring from their own countries.

For these documents to be accepted by the Italian authorities, both official certification (apostille) and translation into Italian are required. Academic documents such as diplomas and transcripts call for an academic translation approach with a strong command of the terminology, while income and title deed records require a complete Italian translation consistent with official document language. When grading systems, institution names and document titles are translated incorrectly, regional DSU offices may request additional documents, which means weeks of delay in an already tight calendar.

The Document Chain for Applicants from Turkey

The most delicate part of the scholarship file is preparing Turkish documents in a form that the Italian authorities will accept. As a general rule, the apostille is first obtained for the Turkish document, and then the document is translated into Italian by a sworn translator. In some regions, a double apostille may apply: first the original document is apostilled, the document is translated into Italian, and the notarization of the translation is also subject to a separate apostille. Since some DSU offices may require notarization in addition to the sworn translation, plus an apostille on that notarization, checking the current requirements of the relevant institution before applying prevents unnecessary costs and loss of time. It is important to distinguish between two procedures here: sworn translator certification means the translator attests to the accuracy of the translation with their signature; a notarized translation means this signature is additionally certified by a notary, and not every institution requires both.

There is also a common point of confusion regarding the apostille authority: the apostille annotation is issued by the state, not by a translation agency. For administrative documents, provincial governor's offices (valilik) and district governor's offices (kaymakamlık) are authorized, while for judicial documents, the Justice Commission Presidencies (Adalet Komisyonu Başkanlıkları) at the courthouses are responsible; since notarized documents are also considered judicial documents, their apostilles are obtained from the courthouse. On the cost side, the good news is this: as of the publication date of this article, citizens are not charged a fee for the apostille annotation itself; the main side costs are translation and notarization. That is why clarifying from the outset which procedure each document requires directly affects your budget. At Ziya Tercüme, we coordinate the sworn translation of your diploma, transcript, income and criminal record documents from a single point, including notarization and official document certification stages where required, and we prepare your documents in the format requested by the target institution.

e-Apostille: Which Documents Can You Obtain Digitally?

One of the most important tools speeding up the process is the e-Apostille. According to official statements, the e-Apostille is a digital service that enables official documents apostilled by authorized institutions to be created, approved and verified electronically, and documents gain international validity without the circulation of physical paperwork. The system was launched on 1 January 2019 and initially covered judicial documents such as criminal record certificates and court decisions; civil registry extracts were added in 2021, and the service was integrated into the e-Government Gateway (e-Devlet Kapısı) in 2022.

Two developments are particularly valuable for students applying to Italy. First, since 18 December 2023, the criminal record certificate can be generated and submitted for an e-Apostille request on a single screen via e-Devlet or eapostil.gov.tr. Second, the electronic e-Apostille service for multilingual birth, marriage and death record extracts (Forms A-B-C) began on 28 December 2023, and these documents can be issued in 10 different languages, including Italian. In other words, it is possible to reduce the need for translation by obtaining some civil registry documents directly in Italian and with an e-Apostille. On the other hand, the e-Apostille currently covers only certain document types; for documents such as diplomas, a physical application to the governor's office may still be necessary.

How Long Does It Take, and What Affects the Cost?

The timeline varies depending on the number of documents and the length of the certification chain. While documents covered by the e-Apostille can be completed in a matter of minutes to hours, the full sequence of obtaining a diploma copy from the school, the governor's office apostille, the sworn translation, the notarization and, if required, a second apostille on the translation can take several weeks during busy periods. This observation, valid as of the publication date of this article, combined with the August rush at governor's offices and notaries, puts last-minute applications at risk. Although the urgent translation option is a way out for students squeezed into the final week, the healthiest strategy is to start the process early.

The main factors affecting cost are: the number of documents and pages, the translation language and terminology density, whether notarization is required, whether a double apostille is needed, and the shipping/delivery method. Since the apostille annotation itself is free of charge, the main budget items are sworn translation and notary fees. In scenarios where the same document will be submitted to more than one institution, correct planning from the outset prevents duplicate notary expenses. Nor do you need to physically bring your documents to Istanbul; with an online translation workflow based on scans, the process can also be managed from outside the city and from abroad.

Sample Scenario: A Roadmap for a Student Applying to Florence

Suppose you will begin a master's program at the University of Florence in September 2026 and apply for the DSU Toscana scholarship. The application is made online through the student portal on DSU Toscana's website; however, the economic status and family documents to be uploaded must be legible to the Italian authorities. This student's typical list: family civil registry extract (the multilingual Form B/A alternative may be considered), the family's income documents, title deed and vehicle records, bachelor's diploma and transcript, and criminal record certificate.

The sequence to follow would be: first, apostilles are obtained for the documents issued in Turkish (e-Apostille for the criminal record, governor's office for the diploma); then the documents are translated into Italian by a sworn translator; if the relevant DSU office requires notarization and an apostille on the translation, these steps are added. An apostille-certified translation service, where the entire chain is managed in a single package, eliminates the need for the student to shuttle between institutions. In the final step, the documents are submitted to the application portal as PDFs and/or wet-signed originals and, if required, sent to the institution by post.

Common Mistakes

The most frequent point of error in Italian scholarship applications is the document process: incorrect or incomplete translations, apostille hiccups or paperwork not submitted on time can nullify the entire application effort. One of the most common traps is mixing up the sequence: translation begins before the apostille is obtained, then it becomes clear that the apostille annotation must also be translated, and the document goes through the process a second time. Another is assuming that sworn translator certification is the same thing as notarization; if the institution requires notarization, a translation bearing only the sworn stamp will not suffice.

Furthermore, the document requirements of each region (DSU Toscana, ER.GO, EDISU, etc.) are not exactly the same; assuming that the format prepared for one region will be valid in another is risky. The issue date of documents also matters: some institutions require recency (for example, the last six months) for income and criminal record documents. Finally, remember that the apostille is a certification valid only between countries party to the Hague Convention and that it certifies the official nature of the document, not its content; the apostille does not correct errors in the content, so the accuracy of the source document should be checked from the start.

Recommended Preparation Calendar

• End of July: Confirm the document list and translation/apostille requirements in the published call text of the regional body you will apply to (DSU Toscana, ER.GO, EDISU, etc.). In Tuscany, applications began to be accepted as of 20 July.
• Early to mid-August: Collect the documents and start the apostille and sworn translation process. All translation and apostille procedures must be completed before submitting the application; save time by obtaining documents covered by the e-Apostille digitally.
• End of August - early September: Complete the online application; at the bachelor's and master's level, the deadline for Tuscany is 1:00 p.m. on 7 September 2026, and dates may vary in other regions.
• After September: For doctoral and specialization students, the window runs from 25 September to 16 November 2026; those in this group should finish their document preparation by early September.

In summary: success in Italy's 2026-2027 scholarship season depends more on a well-planned document chain than on grades. The student who starts early both keeps costs under control and avoids last-minute stress. The calendar is open; the first step is to download the call text and draw up your document list today.

Sources

• DSU Toscana — Borsa di studio a.a. 2026-2027
• Giovanisì (Regione Toscana) — Dsu, c'è il nuovo bando per le borse di studio 2026/2027
• Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye (T.C. Ulaştırma ve Altyapı Bakanlığı) — Official documents reach the world digitally with e-Apostille
• Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Bucharest (T.C. Bükreş Büyükelçiliği) — Announcement on the e-Apostille Application
• PTT — e-Apostille applications for Form A-B-C documents will be possible from anywhere in the world