Medicine and Surgery Bolzano
New degree programme for the a.y. 2024/25
Pending accreditation by the MUR (Ministry of University and Research)

The Università Cattolica's 6-year Single-Cycle MD Medicine and Surgery programme is taught in English and foresees internships in Italian and German. The students of the new degree programme will have access to state-of-the-art facilities and a qualified faculty, benefiting from the experience of doctors and researchers from the A. Gemelli University Hospital and the clinical training opportunities provided by local facilities. Lectures are conducted at Claudiana, Healthcare Centre of excellence in Bolzano, a city of mesmerising charm, a popular tourist and business centre located in the Val d'Adige (Northern Italy). A meeting point between two different cultures, the Mediterranean and the Central European one.
Programme highlights
- Faculty: Medicine and Surgery
- Campus: Bolzano
- Location: Polo universitario "Claudiana"
- Start: a.y. 2024-2025
- Teaching language: English
- Internship language: Italian and German
- Duration: 6 years
- Total ECTS: 360
- Entrance exam: may 2024
- Scholarships and Provincial funding available
In order to achieve formative goals, the Medicine and Surgery programme is organised to offer a total number of 360 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), spread over a 6-year course. 60 credits consist of activities aimed at acquiring specific professional skills. Each ECTS corresponds to 12 hours of teaching. In case of professional training, each credit corresponds to 17 hours.
First year
- Basic sciences
- Biomedical sciences I
- Biomedical sciences II
- Organic and functional systems I: bones and muscles
- First aid and nursing practice I
- Residency in health centre
- Introduction to Christology and scriptures
- Optional project I
- Vertical domain I/Electives I
- Italian language
Second year
- Organic and functional systems II
- First aid and nursing practice II
- Methodology of research I
- Organic and functional systems III
- Bioethics and medical humanities
- Introduction to theological anthropology and ecclesiology
- Informatics
- Optional project II
- Vertical domain II/Electives II
Third year
- Biopathology and introduction to medical therapy I
- Biopathology and introduction to medical therapy II
- Epidemiology and biostatistics
- Public health
- Introduction to clinical medicine
- Methodology of research II
- Introduction to ethics and Christian ethics
- Scientific English
- Italian language
- Optional project III
- Vertical domain III/Electives III
Fourth year
- Clinical centre residency I
- Medicine residency I
- Maternal and child health residency
- Clinical neurosciences
- From clinical to molecular biology I
- International foundation of medicine (IFOM) test
- Optional project IV
- Theology (seminarial course)
- Vertical domain IV/Electives IV
Fifth year
- Clinical centre residency II
- Public health residency
- Medicine residency II
- Surgery residency I
- Surgery residency II
- From clinical to molecular biology II
- Optional project V
- Vertical domain V/Electives V
Sixth year
- Health centre residency - Final training
- From clinical to molecular biology III
- Hospital residencies - Final training
- Practical-evaluation training general medicine
- Optional project - Final project
- Final test
During clinical studies (Years Four, Five and Six) students must acquire specific knowledge in internal medicine, general surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as in medical-surgical specialities. For this purpose, students will be required to undertake professional training by participating in an internship in healthcare operational units designated by the Degree Programme Committee.
Teaching is mainly undertaken through class lectures complemented whenever possible by in-class or laboratory exercises. Supplementary professional training is held in small seminar groups led by faculty staff or tutors.
Tutors are assigned to specific groups of students and undertake teaching as well as tutoring. Tutors also record attendance in students’ activities booklets.
Students with attendance below the minimum requirement (65%) must contact the Coordinator of the Integrated Course to arrange additional activities necessary to compensate for low attendance and obtain the Coordinator’s signature so that they can then take the related exam.
In line with the European Directive 2013/55/EU, each professional training credit (CFU or ECTS) corresponds to 25 hours of teaching, and students must accumulate a minimum of 60 of these credits out of an overall total of 360 credits.
The Degree Programme Committee can identify non-teaching hospitals or healthcare facilities where internships may be either in part or entirely carried out.
Once the Professional Training Practice Commission (CTP) has carried out the necessary evaluation and confirmed the subsequent accreditation and academic suitability.
Upon successfully passing an assessed internship, the State Examination and following registration with the Medical Association of their local Province, all Medicine and Surgery graduates are qualified to perform clinical care in Italy.
Graduates in Medicine and Surgery are qualified to carry out surgery in the various roles and in clinical, health and biomedical professional fields.
The programme is designed for students who wish to become qualified general practitioners.
A natural extension of the Medicine and Surgery training programme is access to specialty training schools in the sector or further studies in the three-year regional programme of specific training in general medicine for which graduate students in the LM-41 class are eligible.
Graduates from the degree programme taught in English will be eligible to participate in USMLE Steps 1 and 2 and, thus, in the USA Post Graduate Training and Residencies, as well as in similar programmes scheduled in European countries or non-European anglophone countries.
Non-Italian graduates from the International MD Medicine and Surgery programme have the opportunity to attend Italian language courses essential for their integration into Italian society and, in particular, for doctor-patient communication in the national health context. Knowledge of the Italian language will favour the graduate’s access to the Specialty Training Schools within the Italian University.
The procedures for admission to the 6-year Single-Cycle MD Medicine and Surgery in Bolzano for the next academic year 2024/2025 will be published at the beginning of the year 2024.
The Entrance exam will be in May 2024
- Possibility of accessing scholarships income and merit
- Provincial funding available (reserved for students with bilingualism certificate German/Italian at B2 level/ tied to a commitment to work at the South Tyrol Health Authority, for four years within 10 years after graduation)
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The professionals trained at Università Cattolica will not only be able to treat diseased organs, but will also have to take responsibility of the care of the person in front of them, with the awareness that little can the most modern and innovative therapies do if the person is not taken care of in their entirety, both physical and spiritual