Revised course programme

Nursing: new postgraduate degrees set to launch – 14 universities ready to go

These courses will be available from the 2026/27 academic year. The Ministry of Education has published the dates for the entrance exams: they will take place on 5 and 7 October.

by School Editorial Team

5 July 2026

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2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Whilst the Mur has published on its website the dates for the entrance exams for the qualifying three-year degree in Nursing (16 and 17 September throughout Italia), plans are taking shape to revamp the educational programme for qualified nurses, who, from the 2026/2027 will also be able to choose the new master’s degree programme, which is divided into three specialist areas: Primary Care and Family and Community Nursing; Neonatal and Paediatric Care; and Intensive Care and Emergency Nursing. For the specialist programmes, the dates set for the entrance exams are 5 and 7 October.

The framework

A constantly evolving picture is beginning to emerge following the publication in the Official Gazette – which took place on International Nurses’ Day – on 12 May, of Ministerial Decree No. 159 of 6 February 2026 and Ministerial Decree No. 177 of 25 February 2026.

The new Master’s degrees

Just over a month after the three new degree programmes were officially announced, all universities have in fact set in motion the procedures to review existing courses and to launch the new specialist master’s degrees. In addition to confirming virtually all existing master’s degree programmes (which will become specialised pathways focusing on nursing and managerial, educational and research skills), 14 universities have already finalised plans for the new specialist master’s degree programmes for the 2026/27 academic year. Given the momentum generated during the 41st Meeting of the Permanent Conference held in Turin, many other universities are set to follow suit, with programmes opening in 2027/28. The locations are distributed fairly evenly across the country, with a slight majority of universities in the centre-north. Nurses and paediatric nurses will be able to choose between the established pathway in Nursing Sciences and the new master’s degree programmes: 12 courses will be dedicated to specialisation in Primary Care and Community Nursing, 9 in Intensive Care and Emergency Nursing, and 5 in Neonatal and Paediatric Nursing.

Crucial local support

An analysis of the initial data shows that the course in Primary Care and Community Nursing is the one in which Italian universities are showing the greatest interest. This confirms the crucial importance of community-based care in a country such as ours, where an ageing population has given rise to new healthcare needs, increasingly linked to the management of chronic conditions. The three postgraduate degrees are moving in this direction, helping to bring the health system closer to the needs of the public. Nurses who continue their university studies will be able to specialise in clinical disciplines that will assist them in caring for patients with chronic conditions – in the case of Community Nursing – or provide specific expertise in paediatrics or critical care, depending on which of the other two degree programmes they choose.

Finally, the reform currently taking shape meets the needs of the nursing profession itself, which is now dynamic and diverse: it does so by bringing it into line, in terms of training, with European and international standards. ‘We can no longer assume that 462,000 nurses are all the same,’ emphasises the FNOPI. ‘And the public needs a team comprising nurses with different, well-defined specialisations.’

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