These notes aim to assist all students but in particular foreign students who intend to enrol into undergraduate, MSc or PhD Courses in Pavia and become members of Collegio A Volta. EdISU has streamlined the application procedure for foreign students and these simplified rules, together with these notes, should make the process of application for foreign students a fairly straightforward one.

The first stop is Palazzo Vistarino

Undergraduate, MSc and PhD students apply for placements at Collegio Volta via EdISU, an educational body that includes the University of Pavia and local educational authorities and is in charge of promoting Higher Education. The offices of EdISU are located in Palazzo Vistarino (see image below), a beautiful building located in the centre of Pavia certainly worth a visit by the time you will live in Pavia. The whole application process, however, can be carried out online and by mail and does not require a visit to the offices of EdISU.

You may apply for a placement at Volta and other financial benefits in one go

The application that you will submit to EdISU for a placement at Collegio Volta allows you to request additional financial benefits, subject to eiligibility. A single set of online forms may enable you to request: (i) a bursary, (ii) the College placement, where you are able to specify Volta as your first College preference, (iii) a student card offering discounts at student’s restaurants, cafeterias and local bookshops and finally and, (iv) a

possible reduction in University fees. These may amount to substantial financial savings over the years in which you will study in Pavia and thus every student is encouraged to apply. Naturally, financial benefits are means-tested and require that evidence of eligibility and entitlement is submitted.

Preparing the applicationBackground Reading In the summer of 2013. EdISU translates the application procedure into English. This text is available on the EdISU home page at the link Guidelines for applications for placements in EDiSU Colleges and Halls of Residence at the University of Pavia (2013/2014). Although this text has not been updated for the current round of applications (2014/15) it contains useful information and is worth studying.

Your Tax Code You need a personal tax code in order to undertake most procedures as a student in Pavia (or other Italian Universities for that matter). Your tax code (codice fiscale) is used as a de facto ID number. If you have have already enrolled in your Course at the University, the chances are that you have already been issued with your personal tax code. If you have not, you need to obtain one from the Italian Embassy/Consulate nearest to the place where you live. A number of Italian Consulates will allow you to apply online for your personal tax code (this link, for example, takes you to the application form that will enable the Italian Consulate in London to issue your personal tax code). Please study the website of the Italian Consulate nearest to your and act accordingly.

Documents In a number of countries Italian Consulates can arrange an appointment with you and this could save you long waiting time(s). In the first instance therefore, please check with your Consulate whether you can schedule your appointment/interview in order to convert your financial in a format that EdISU can process. The exact documents that you need to take to the Consulate will vary from country to country but need to provide the following information:

• Proof of composition of the household • Proof of income of each member of the household for the last

tax year whether from employment, rent, shares,• Proof of rent/ownership of the house in which you reside. • In case the house is owned by members of the household,

proof of the size of the property (in square metres)• Proof of ownership of other properties by members of the

household and size of property(ies) (in square metres).

Collegio Alessandro Volta

Universita’ degli Studi di Pavia

Application procedures for prospective undergraduate, MSc and PhD students. Guide for foreign applicants.

When you contact the Consulate for an appointment please explain that you need the Consulate to certify the financial status of yourself and your family members for the sake of an application for financial benefits at an Italian University. You can then list the documents that you intend to bring with you and ask the Consulate staff to confirm that these are adequate or otherwise (this could save you multiple journeys to the Consulate).

The staff at the Consulate needs to study the documents, confirm that they provide the required information, translate them or a suitable extract in Italian and convert the relevant financial figures into euros. Expect to have to pay a fee for the service and for a number of legal stamps that may have to be added to the final documents (the staff of the Consulate may be able to tell you how much the whole process will cost you when you contact them for an appointment).

Step by step guide to the application

Standard application (italian students)

Italian students complete the application to EdISU in

three steps. They first complete the Dichiarazione Sostitutiva Unica (DSU), a self-certification that may be completed on printed form but also on line at http://s3-isee.unipv.it/DSU/. Next he DSU is printed, signed and taken to one of a number of dedicated Centri di Assistenza Fiscale (CAF), present in all major Italian cities. The CAF office will issue students with a so-called ISEE/ISEEU certificate that will enable students to finally complete the EdISU application (see below). The EDiSU application form must be completed online. The work can be saved any number of times but beware that when the form is printed, no further modifications are allowed. The printed and signed application taken to the EdISU office or sent by registered mail, in which case the documents must be accompanied by a photocopy of a valid ID, typically the student’s passport.

Streamlines application (foreign students)

As a foreign student you are offered a streamlined application process. Once you are in possession of the financial papers from the Italian Consulate, submit these by special delivery to the office of the College Master at Collegio Volta (Address: E Gherardi, Collegio A Volta, 17 via A Ferrata, 27100 Pavia, Italy).

Collegio Volta will take care of submitting your papers to the Ufficio Benefici Economici of EdISU that is authorised to issue an ISEE/ISEEU certificate. Next Collegio Volta will send

you the ISEE/ISEEU certificate by email or recorded mail and this will enable you to complete the application form online. In the current version of the EdISU homepage (due to change shortly but the notes must refer to the web page currently available) follow the link Modalità per la richiesta dei benefici all'EDiSU which will take you to a new page. Scroll down this page and choose the link http://edisupv.dirittoallostudio.it/DOLPV, which will take you to a page enabling a new application.

Complete the application following the instructions online and, when asked to enter marks for the final examination of your pre-University Course, enter 70. This is an interim set of marks for your pre-University Course(s) in order to enable the system to process your application. Your real marks will be entered by EdISU when you will have these and submit them in mid August. Finally, send the printed, signed application to Ufficio Studenti, EdISU, 11 via Calatafimi, 27100 Pavia, Italy.

When you get to Volta

When you get to Collegio Volta as a foreign student, you will find that everything straightforward. The College has the highest (and a growing) number of foreign students of any College in Pavia. Once you arrive, the College office will pass your name and email address to the Volta Society for International Students (http://www.collegiovolta.org/articles/volta-society-for-international-students-vsis.html) and one of its members will visit you and offer advice on all practical matters of College life. The College also organises a full Fresher’s Week early in October that makes freshmen feel a member of the Volta community from start.

Ermanno Gherardi, June 2014