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Professional Master’s Programmes

A Professional Master’s Programme offers in-depth training in a certain discipline, meeting a growing need for specialist skills, or a transdisciplinary path to acquire transferable professional skills, which are crucial in complex contexts. Find out more about our programmes and discover if they meet your expectations for personal and professional growth.

Practical knowledge and new opportunities

Professional Master’s Programmes provide you with practical and advanced knowledge which is readily applicable to the world of work. Their strengths include a practical approach and networking opportunities.

This is the right choice for you if:

you are interested in attending a work-oriented programme after graduation
you already work and want to improve your skills or find new opportunities.

Why the University of Bologna?

- A variety of options: We offer a wide range of Professional Master’s Programmes in a variety of disciplinary areas, with approximately 100 first-level and second-level programmes available each year.
- International renown: More and more international students choose to attend our programmes because they are attracted by the quality of our education and by the practical and specialist training we offer.
- Quality: Each Professional Master’s Programme is designed to provide advanced and practical knowledge, with a strong focus on innovative methodologies and real case studies. Our teaching staff is comprised of academics and professionals in just the right balance, bringing together solid academic knowledge and practical skills easy to apply to the world of work.
Synergies with the local community and partnerships with important businesses and institutions translate into opportunities for putting knowledge into practice during internships. On-field experience gives you the chance to put yourself out there in the world of work and create your own network of professional contacts. Special attention is paid to ensure that the knowledge you gain is in line with the needs of the market and that a close connection is maintained between theory and practice.

Choose your Professional Master’s Programme

Whatever your area of interest, you can find programmes that combine high specialisation and real opportunities for professional growth.

Search by area:
Or see the full programme catalogue
Every year, the University of Bologna offers 25 Professional Master’s Programmes in English or Spanish, which are designed to facilitate international students and provide everyone with the opportunity to fine-tune their language skills, including subject-specific ones.

See the full catalogue of Professional Master’s Programmes in English and Spanish

How to be admitted

A Professional Master’s Programme is a postgraduate programme focused on specialisation and advanced training, at the end of which a first-level or second-level professional master’s degree is awarded:
- at least a first-cycle degree is required to be admitted to a first-level Professional Master’s Programme;
- at least a second-cycle degree or a single-cycle degree is required to be admitted to a second-level Professional Master’s Programme.
Professional Master’s Programmes take place in Bologna, Forlì, Cesena, Rimini, Ravenna and Buenos Aires, depending on the programme.

Attendance is in person, as well as online, as detailed in the data sheet of the relevant Professional Master’s Programme.

The minimum prescribed duration of Professional Master’s Programmes is one year; at least 60 university educational credits (CFUs) are awarded.

Each Professional Master’s Programme provides for a certain number of internship hours at partner businesses. Alternatively, project work may be provided in some cases.
In order to enrol, you must register for the selection by paying a non-refundable registration fee.

Following the selection procedure, eligible applicants in the ranking list will be entitled to enrol, without prejudice to the maximum number of participants set out in the call for applications.

The enrolment process varies according to your nationality; read the information relevant to you:

I am an Italian citizen or have EU-equivalent status

I am an EU citizen

I am a non-EU citizen

FAQs

To choose between a Professional Master’s Programme and a second-cycle degree programme, you should look at your personal and professional goals.

A Professional Master’s Programme is perfect for you if you are looking for a short-term, specialist training programme with a focus on practice, designed to kickstart or elevate your career. Professional Master’s Programmes target specific knowledge and offer internship and networking opportunities in a certain professional field. If, on the other hand, you are interested in a broader, more theoretical academic programme to get advanced education and access jobs that require a second-cycle degree, such as in teaching and research, you should go for a Laurea Magistrale.

Both options have their own advantages – consider the duration, career opportunities and your future aspirations to make an informed choice.

If you could use some help, you can contact orientamento.itinere@unibo.it for a guidance interview.
No, there is no equivalence between the two. A Professional Master’s Programme usually lasts one year and awards 60 CFUs, equal to 1500 hours of learning activities overall. A Master’s Degree Programme (either a Master of Science or a Master of Arts) is a second-cycle degree programme that lasts two years and awards 120 CFUs, equal to 3000 hours of learning activities overall. The qualification awarded is the same as a second-cycle degree.
A Professional Master’s Programme is a postgraduate programme focused on lifelong and recurrent advanced training and scientific specialisation, at the end of which a first-level or second-level professional master’s degree is awarded.

This qualification is not valid for admission to degree programmes of a higher level (including PhD programmes and specialisation schools), yet it allows putting the skills you have gained to use in the world of work.
From a.y. 2022/23, you can enrol simultaneously in up to two programmes at the same university or at different universities or Advanced Artistic and Musical Training institutions, including foreign ones. This, however, is only possible under certain circumstances.

For further information, see Simultaneous enrolment in different programmes.
Mandatory percentage

Depending on the programme, a mandatory attendance percentage between 70% and 90% is required.

Suspension

Suspending attendance is usually not permitted.

Suspension may be granted in the event of an extended illness, pregnancy, maternity or paternity. In any of those cases, please email master@unibo.it, which will consider your request and provide you with the information you need.

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Contacts

Ufficio Master Bologna

For Professional Master’s programmes, Post-graduate vocational training programmes, Summer and Winter Schools with University educational credits

Address

Viale Quirico Filopanti, 7 - 40126 Bologna

Office hours

Desk for: - Submission of the originals of the requested qualifications (Students who are enrolled in a Professional Master' programme); - Collection of parchments (students who have obtained the title of Professional Master) -

E-mail

master@unibo.it

Virtual Help Desk

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Notices

Desk for: Submission of the originals of the requested qualifications (Students who are enrolled in a Professional Master' programme); - Collection of parchments (students who have obtained the title of Professional Master) - (by appointment only through booking on Studenti Online) Tuesdays from 9.00 a.m. to 11.45 a.m. and Thursdays from 2.30 p.m. to 3.45 p.m.

Studenti online