Undergraduate language requirements

Applicants with the Bocconi exam already registered in their study plan (level B2 for English, level B1 for other languages) do not have to submit any certificate at the time of application to the program unless requested by the destinations they apply for (check the Destinations’ list).

Language certificates must be submitted at the time of application to the program at Punto Blu by the set deadlines and must respect the following parameters:

• be among the ones recognized by Bocconi Language Center  (IELTS INDICATOR and TOEFL ESSENTIALS are NOT recognized);
• be valid at the moment of the Exchange Program application: TOEFL and IELTS test must have been awarded no more than 2 years prior to the Exchange Program application deadline. All the other certificates must have been awarded no more than 3 years prior to the Exchange Program application deadline;
• the certification must be equal to or higher than the required level or grade (B2). For the minimum scores accepted, please refer to the Bocconi Language Center tables. 

International Certification Exam 

English Language Certification	Minimum Score accepted
CPE (Certificate Proficiency English)	C1 Pass
CAE (Certificate Advanced English)	B2 Pass (160)
BEC VANTAGE (Business English Certificate Vantage)	B2 bus – C (160)
BEC HIGHER (Business English Certificate Higher)	B2 bus Pass (160)
BEC PRELIMINARY (Business English Certificate Preliminary)	B1 bus - A (160)
IELTS ACADEMIC/Online	overall ≥ 6.0
	no part lower than 5.0
TOEFL IBT / Home Edition	80-81
Please refer to the CONVERSION TABLES for Students enrolled in BSc Progams taught in Italian

 

Language certificates must be submitted at the time of application to the program at Punto Blu by the set deadlines and must respect the following parameters:

 

• the certification must be among the ones recognized by Bocconi Language Center ;
• For the Spanish language, the Study Abroad office accepts for the exchange application, the SIELE GLOBAL certificate (in on-site or remote mode);
• the language certification must be valid at the moment of the Exchange Program application: it must have been awarded no more than 3 years prior to the Exchange Program application deadline; 
• the certification must be equal to or higher than the required level or grade (B1). For the minimum scores accepted, please refer to the Bocconi Language Center tables.

For schools for which a B1 level knowledge of Spanish/French/German is required, the minimum language requirement is considered temporarily fulfilled if the student is enrolled in the Bocconi language course of the language required by the school at the time of the selection.

In order to leave for the exchange, the final exam of that language (written and oral exam) must then be passed and registered by the June/July exam session. Selected students who do not pass the language exam by July 2024, will no longer be eligible to leave for the exchange and will be automatically excluded from the program.

This rule and deadlines apply also to students on the waiting list for destinations for which the study plan second language is required.

Portuguese

For Portuguese language only: in order to confirm the selection, students who cannot satisfy the minimum Portuguese language requirement according to one of the options listed above, will have to compulsorily attend and complete the course "Lingua portoghese" provided by the Bocconi Language Center.  

For detailed information and registration, see the dedicated page on the Language Center website and the Guidelines.

Citizens from a country where English, French, Germany, Portuguese or Spanish is the first language, can certify their language proficiency by submitting their passport at the time of application to the program at Punto Blu by the set deadlines.

However, please note that ALL Bocconi students, even the ones who are mother tongue in English, French, German or Spanish MUST submit an international certificate if interested in applying for destinations where the certificate is needed to satisfy the ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS (ex. a British student MUST submit the TOEFL or the IELTS certificate if interested in applying for University of Pennsylvania).

For more details, see the section below “Additional requirements”.