IMAT 2027 Date and Registration: What Is Known and What to Watch

The table below separates what is known for 2027 from what is not. "Not yet published" means we could not find it in any official source on 29 October 2026. Anything you read elsewhere that gives an exact 2027 date before the ministry publishes one is a guess.

One more point: the MUR circular on procedures for international students already covers two academic years, 2026/27 and 2027/28. So the pre-enrolment and visa rules described below already apply to the 2027/28 intake, even though the 2027 test decree is not out.

These are the official dates of the 2026 cycle, step by step, with the source for each. On 29 October 2026 some have passed and some are still to come, as the last column shows. Treat the list as a reference, not a promise: the 2027 dates may be different.

Read the 2026 numbers this way. The decree was signed 54 days before the test (its date, 6 August 2026). Registration opened 34 days before the test and closed 20 days before it, so the whole window was only 15 days long, counting both the first and the last day. The national ranking was scheduled 27 days after the test. A window as short as 15 days is easy to miss if you are not watching. These gaps describe 2026 only; the ministry can publish the 2027 decree earlier or later.

In 2026 the ministry also announced the test date in a short notice before the full decree: on 3 July 2026, as the University of Bologna reported on its notice board three days later. Bologna added that its own call would be published by 31 August 2026. So the first sign of the 2027 date may again be a short ministry notice, followed weeks later by the decree and then the university calls.

In 2026 the IMAT was one test, with the same content in every test centre, for three English-taught courses: Medicine and Surgery, Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics, and Veterinary Medicine (DM 1005/2026, art. 2(1)). In 2026 the decree named two groups of candidates who sit it, ranked in different ways. The table shows the 2026 rules; the 2027 decree must confirm them.

If you are not sure which group you are in, check with the university before you register: your status decides which ranking you enter and which places you compete for. The decree also asks every candidate, when they register, to choose between Medicine and Surgery with Dentistry, or Veterinary Medicine. In 2026 that choice could not be changed after registration closed (art. 1(2)).

Two more rules from the 2026 decree are worth knowing early. Candidates with a disability or a specific learning disorder (DSA) can ask for extra time and aids through the university’s call: up to 50% more time for a certified disability and up to 30% more for DSA (art. 4). Candidates living abroad who ask for these measures must present the certificate from their country of residence, legalised where international rules require it, with a translation into Italian or English that is either a sworn translation by an official translator or certified as conforming to the original by the Italian diplomatic representation (art. 4(5)). Getting this done can take time, so it is worth starting early.

In 2026 the number of places at each university was published as Tabella B, an annex of the decree (art. 7). It has two columns of numbers for every course: places for EU candidates and non-EU candidates residing in Italy, and places for non-EU candidates residing abroad. That was the 2026 arrangement; the 2027 decree must confirm how the 2027 places are published. Here are some 2026/27 rows for Medicine and Surgery, for reference.

Tabella B for 2026/27 also gave 49 and 11 places for Dentistry, and 63 and 7 for Veterinary Medicine. The Medicine figures of 2,430 and 1,362 are the totals of all the Medicine and Surgery rows in Tabella B. Places at universities whose accreditation was still being assessed were conditional on a positive outcome (art. 7(2)). Our seats guide goes through Tabella B row by row.

For non-EU candidates residing abroad there are two more rules in the MUR circular that covers 2026/27 and 2027/28. The order is fixed: you submit the pre-enrolment application on Universitaly, the university validates it, and as a rule only a validation without reservation lets you apply for the study visa at the Italian embassy or consulate (the circular names two exceptions for a validation with reservation). And a university may validate no more pre-enrolment applications than its places for international students plus 20%; under the circular’s conditions, a refused visa or enrolment can free a place for a further validation. Our suggestion: do not leave pre-enrolment to the last days.

Where to watch. The ministry publishes its decrees and notices on its own website (mur.gov.it). Registration and pre-enrolment happen on Universitaly (universitaly.it). Each university posts its call and notices on its own course pages, and in 2026 the University of Bologna reposted the ministry’s date notice within three days. Check these official pages directly, and treat any date you see elsewhere as unconfirmed until one of them publishes it.

Our suggestion for the waiting months is to study. The 2027 format is unknown; until the decree is out, use the 2026 format provisionally: 60 questions in 100 minutes, with biology and chemistry making up 38 of the 60. If you already sat IMAT 2026, your answer sheet shows where your points went, and our retake guide shows how to read it. If you want to see how a score compares with past published university lists, use the free score check.