Today with me is Yasir Bhai, who is doing a PhD from Bologna University. Today we will know from him how to apply for a PhD.

Yasir Khan’s Background

Thank you, Lias brother. My name is Yasir Khan, and I am doing my PhD here from the University of Bologna. My PhD program is Automotive Engineering for Intelligent Mobility. Before that, my Master’s is from U.D. Taksla’s in mechanical engineering, and I also worked for some time as a lecturer.

My PhD program here is basically with Kolben, along with Ferrari. We spent some time in Saudi Arabia, which is the best place, where the prestigious scholarship is from King Father University. I got acceptance from all these places, but unfortunately, due to COVID, everything was closed due to lockdown, and their borders were not opened. Italy opened its borders, so I came here from abroad.

Why Study in Italy?

Now, let’s address a very important question that people often ask: why should we come to Italy? There are many reasons for this. The first one is the visa ratio for the Italian PhD scholarship. If you have a PhD scholarship, then you will 100% get the visa. If you get admission, then consider that you have reached Italy.

In my personal opinion, taking admission in Italy is comparatively easier than in other countries. The scholarships that come here are announced against specific positions, and your merit will be evaluated against that position. My topic is the development of assessment tools for bolted joints applied to automotive parts. This is a specific position.

Application Process

Now, how many people applied for this? There were about five people. Out of those five, because I had the highest marks, I was selected. I say that it is easy to come to Italy because your competition will not be with 100 people. Sometimes, if no one applies against a position, it will remain vacant. They have to take a candidate at any cost, so you might get that position.

One more interesting thing I found about the Italian PhD is that you have to study for three to six months. We have to go to another country as a means of mobility. For example, we left Bologna and went to Paris. If you have to spend three to six months in some other research lab, I will explain the PhD process step by step.

Admission Process

Now the first process is admission. If your admission is done, then understand that your visa is also applied for. You have reached Italy, not physically but mentally. The first step that happens is admission. The second step is the interview. If you pass the interview, then you will get pre-enrollment. After that, you will have to prepare the documents for the visa process.

The scholarship you get is usually through the grant. Once you reach Italy, you have to start your research. Now let us try to explain it in detail. The first step is the admission process.

Admission Calls and Criteria

Every university will announce the admission every year. We call it cycles in PhD; they have 38 cycles, 39 cycles, and now 40 cycles are about to come. Every university will have its own portal where you will upload all the required documents as per the deadline. You have to see when the calls for which university are coming.

There are groups for calls, and if the research work you are interested in has been published, all you have to do is go to the portal, create your account, upload the document, and don’t read behind that professor.

Your scholarship or admission in Italy will be based on two things: your document evaluation and your interview. In some cases, there might not even be an interview, but mostly, your interview will be mandatory. It depends on what kind of call it is and which documents will be required.

The basic required documents are a Letter of Recommendation and a Statement of Purpose. The most important documents are your CV in Euro Pass format and your research proposal. The research proposal is basically a small report of four to five pages on the PhD position being announced.

Evaluation Criteria

There are specific marks for each document for the scholarship. Your CV has 10 marks, the research proposal matters the most with 20 marks, and your Letter of Recommendation will have 5 marks. English proficiency will also have some marks.

You don’t need IELTS, good grades, a bank statement, or a police record. You just need admission, and you can tell them that you don’t have a single rupee in your pocket, and they will still give you a visa.

They will evaluate you based on your marks. Some universities have set a threshold, so you must qualify for the interview. The main thing is to give the required documents in the asked format.

Interview Process

Once you qualify for the interview, there will be some weightage given to it. For my case, it was divided: 20 marks for presentation and 10 marks for the project. You must score at least 30 in the interview to qualify. They will combine both your document and interview scores for your total aggregate.

If I scored 74, it may be less than the scores of the other four people who applied. The next topic, which is very important, is the scholarship.

Scholarship Overview

You got admission, and your interview is done. The next process is the visa. Normally, the visa process just explains how the scholarship works. You neither need financial documents nor any documents made from Pakistan. If the program is offered to you, you will receive a scholarship funded by the university or a foreign company.

In both cases, you must work with your professor. Some of our colleagues are working in company-funded projects, while the rest of the evaluation criteria for university-funded scholarships are entirely based on your professor.

Visa Process

Now, let’s discuss the visa process. When we came, we had to write an email to the embassy, but before that, you have to do pre-enrollment on the university portal. The university will then forward the summary to your embassy.

Earlier, I would write an email to the embassy, and they would reply, telling me to go to Jerry’s office on a specific date to submit the documents. Karachi Consulate has a slightly different pattern than Islamabad.

Now, what happens is that they are taking calls. You call them at the embassy, and they will send you an email with instructions on when to go and submit your documents at Jerry’s office.

The documents required will be in the complete checklist. If the university requires the equivalence certificate of your education (known as DV in Italian), there is a separate process for that.

Document Submission

You do not need to give any bank statements or income statements. When you come here, you will have to pay for your plane ticket, but it will be the first installment of your scholarship.

I recommend bringing around 500-700 Rs for the first month. Above this amount is your choice. What is mandatory is 500-700 Rs.

That’s all; your work will be done. I hope you liked our blog today.