Does my six-month research internship and thesis count towards my professional experience for admissions in Italy for a Master's?

Yes, your six-month research internship and thesis absolutely count toward your Italian master's admissions profile, though how they count depends on the exact type of program you are targeting. For a standard academic Laurea Magistrale, they work as strong evidence of your research capability and subject-matter expertise, but for executive or MBA-style tracks, they may not satisfy a strict "professional work experience" requirement.

How Your Internship Counts by Program Type

How to Present It in Your Application

• Frame the internship and thesis as hands-on, project-based work where you managed data and solved real technical or scientific problems, not just a school assignment.
• Collect official completion certificates and reference letters from your internship supervisor or thesis advisor.
• Use your Statement of Purpose to explicitly connect the skills from those six months to the master's degree you are pursuing next.
• If the admission call (bando di concorso) is ambiguous, email the university's admissions office directly to confirm whether a research internship counts toward their experience requirement.

My Advice

Before you finalize your shortlist, pull up the exact admission call for each Italian program and search it for the phrase "professional experience" or "work experience" so you know precisely how strict that particular course is. If you are unsure, send a short, specific email to the admissions office asking whether a university-affiliated research internship satisfies their experience requirement, and keep that reply on file in case it is questioned later.