If you are planning to apply to the English-taught Medicine and Surgery program at the University of Messina, there is one step you need to know about before anything else: pre-evaluation.
For international applicants, this comes before the Universitaly pre-enrolment stage. And for non-EU students living outside Italy, it is a required part of the process.
Because this step is easy to overlook, it is important to understand how it works, what documents you need, and what comes next.
First Things First: What Is Pre-Evaluation?
Before moving forward with Universitaly, applicants to Messina’s English-taught Medicine and Surgery program need to complete a pre-evaluation through the UniME Application Portal.
This is the stage where your academic background is reviewed to determine whether your previous education meets the requirements for application.
In simple terms, the university asks you to submit your profile and supporting documents first. Only after that can you move forward in the process.
What You Need to Upload
For the Medicine and Surgery program, the required documents are:
- High school diploma obtained after 12 years of education
if the diploma is not yet available, an official provisional certificate issued by the school.
if your high school qualification represents less than 12 years of education, you may submit either:
– an academic certificate showing that the required first-year university exams have been passed, or
– a certificate from an Italian university confirming successful completion of a Foundation Programme - University Entrance Exam Certificate, if this is required by your national education system
- Transcript of records
- Copy of a valid passport
For this English-taught Medicine and Surgery program, an English language certificate is not required.
When to Apply
For the 2026/2027 cycle, the application window currently listed for Medicine and Surgery (IMAT) is:
June 20, 2026 – July 20, 2026
These dates are expected to be confirmed after publication of the relevant Ministerial Decree.
Do Not Miss These Key Details
Before you submit, there are a few important rules to keep in mind.
Applications for Medicine and Surgery (IMAT) must be submitted at the same time on both:
The two applications follow the same timeline, so this is not a step you complete separately at a later stage.
It is also important to be careful when uploading your documents. Once the application has been submitted, you cannot add more documents afterward.
Applications can be rejected if they are incomplete or if they do not meet the entry requirements.
Applicants may submit up to two pre-evaluation applications for two different degree programs.
What Happens After Pre-Evaluation?
If your application receives a positive evaluation, you will receive an admission letter.
If you need a visa, this letter includes the instructions needed to register on Universitaly and continue with the visa process.
At the Universitaly pre-enrolment stage, candidates must upload documents together with the pre-acceptance letter issued by UniME at the end of the pre-evaluation procedure.
Pre-enrolment on Universitaly can move forward only after the required documents have been uploaded correctly and are considered valid.
One More Important Point
At this stage of the process, you do not need to submit:
- translations
- legalization
- Declaration of Value
These documents can be submitted after you arrive in Messina.
An Admission Letter Does Not Mean Final Admission
This is a very important distinction.
Receiving an admission letter does not mean that you already have a final place in the program.
For the English-taught Medicine and Surgery program, IMAT is mandatory for all candidates, including international applicants.
So even if you complete both pre-evaluation and pre-enrolment, you still need to sit the IMAT in order to compete for admission.
What You Need to Do, Step by Step
If you are applying to the University of Messina’s English-taught Medicine and Surgery program and you are subject to the visa process, your path looks like this:
- Complete your pre-evaluation through the UniME Application Portal
- Receive your admission letter / pre-acceptance letter if your application is positively evaluated
- Continue with pre-enrolment on Universitaly
- Follow the visa procedure
- Sit the IMAT, which is required for admission to the program
Final Takeaway
If Messina is one of your target universities, do not treat pre-evaluation as a minor formality. It is one of the first essential steps in the application path, and it needs to be handled carefully and on time.
At imatguide.com, we closely follow official IMAT-related procedures, deadlines, and application updates so international students can move through the process with more confidence and less confusion.
To make sure you do not miss important updates, follow imatguide.com and stay connected with us on Instagram: @imatguide
Official Resources
UniME Application Portal
Application and Admission | Università degli Studi di Messina
Visa procedures | Università degli Studi di Messina
Universitaly
Medicine and surgery – Messina