Studying in Italy with WSC Tunisia

Should you use an agency like WSC Tunisia to study in Italy, and what exactly does it do for you?

Short answer: WSC (World Study Center) is the Tunis agency I used to leave Tunisia and continue my studies in Rome. It works in 5 numbered steps and you pay its 5,500 TND fee in three parts, only after each step is done: 1,600 TND for the pre-enrolment file, 2,500 TND for the scholarship file and 1,400 TND for the visa file (2026 prices).

The agency does not collect your papers for you. You go out, get every document and bring it to them; WSC checks each one, sends it to a sworn translator and builds the files. If you cannot afford an agency, you can follow the same steps for free with our guide to studying in Italy for Tunisian students: I link the matching part at each step below.

1. Who is WSC Tunisia, and why did I trust it?

WSC is a study-abroad agency with offices in Tunis and Sousse. Both offices are on the Ministry of Higher Education's official list of approved study-abroad intermediary offices↗ (opens in a new tab), the only offices the Ministry vouches for. On its website↗ (opens in a new tab), WSC gives its approval number (04/07) and more than 26 years of experience (as stated in October 2026); Italy is one of its main destinations, next to Romania, Germany and Spain. I trusted it because it did what the step sheet said: I followed its 5 steps and I am now studying in Rome.

What reassured me most was the payment model. I never paid the full amount upfront: each part was due only once the step before it was done, so I could have stopped after any step. Ask the agency to confirm this in writing, and what happens to money already paid if you stop. Whatever agency you choose, check these points before paying:

• An approval you can check on the Ministry's list of approved offices↗ (opens in a new tab), and a real office you can visit (WSC's Tunis office is at 6 rue de Mahdia, 3rd floor; phone 71 285 510).
• A written list of steps and fees (WSC gives one on paper), and a receipt for every payment.
• No promise of a guaranteed admission, scholarship or visa. For the Dichiarazione di Valore, the Italian Embassy warns that nobody can sell you a faster appointment: see the Embassy's warning about paid DOV appointments.

2. How does WSC's 5-step process work, and what does each step cost?

The process follows the order of the Italian procedure itself: admission first, then the scholarship and the visa, then departure. This is how the fee is split in 2026:

The agency fee does not include what you pay to others: the language test, the notary and the translator, the university fees, the visa fee and the blocked amount itself. These are covered step by step below.

3. Which documents do you bring to the agency?

You bring every document yourself, in 3 certified copies (copies conformes). WSC's list for the pre-enrolment file, for every student:

• Your baccalauréat and its transcript (relevé de notes), 3 certified copies.
• 3 colour copies of your passport's photo page.
• A motivation letter, in English for an English-taught course.
• A Europass CV, in English for an English-taught course.
• 4 photos.

Extra documents for a Master's

For a Master's (laurea magistrale), the agency adds the documents that prove your Bachelor's:

• Your Bachelor's degree (licence), 3 certified copies.
• All your university transcripts, in certified copies.
• Your internship certificates and certificates of participation.
• The study plan of your 3 years of Bachelor's (the subjects and hours of each year).
• 2 recommendation letters from 2 of your professors.
• A portfolio, for Design, Architecture and Multimedia courses.

What the agency does with your documents

WSC reviews each document and tells you what is missing or wrong, for example a name spelt differently from your passport. Once the file is correct, it sends the documents to a sworn translator on the Tunisian Ministry of Justice list, one of the two lists the Italian Embassy accepts (the other is the Embassy's own list). Before that, your diplomas must be authenticated by the ministry that issued them and apostilled: see how to legalise and apostille a Tunisian diploma for Italy and who can translate your documents.

4. Which language test does the agency ask for?

For an English-taught course, WSC asks for IELTS Academic with a B2-level score (the band your course's call sets), taken at the British Council in Tunisia↗ (opens in a new tab). For an Italian-taught course, you need B2 in Italian instead. You pay the test centre directly; it is not part of the agency fee. Some universities accept other certificates or run their own test, so check your course: entry requirements for each course.

5. Which fees does the agency ask you to pay besides its own?

Once your documents are ready, the agency asks you for the university application fees: for example Sapienza's fee per application, and a CIMEA statement if your university wants one. These go to the universities, not to WSC. Because most Tunisian cards cannot pay abroad, WSC pays them with its international payment method and you give it the amount in dinars.

You can also pay these fees yourself: compare the four legal ways in how Tunisians pay Italian university fees, from a bank transfer to the international technology card. For a pagoPA notice, see how to pay pagoPA with PayPal; when your Tunisian card is declined, a RedotPay↗ (opens in a new tab) card linked to PayPal is the last resort, explained in the PayPal and RedotPay route.

6. How do you prepare the fiscal documents for the scholarship?

The scholarship step is the DiSCo Lazio grant, which WSC's sheet puts between EUR 6,000 and 8,000 a year (in the 2026/27 call, EUR 6,571.11 a year for most off-site students, up to EUR 7,556.78 for the lowest incomes and less for higher ones; it is a ranking on family income, not a guarantee, and a residence place is deducted from it). The agency prepares it at the same time as the pre-enrolment, together with the request for a place in a student residence. Your part is the family's fiscal documents, and they take the longest:

1. Family composition: an official document listing each member with date of birth.
2. Income of each family member for year N-2 (2025 for 2027/28): for an employee, a salary or income certificate from the employer; for a self-employed parent, the tax return filed with the tax office; for a retired parent, the pension certificate.
3. A document for every member without income that says so explicitly: DiSCo refuses self-declarations, and the family's total income cannot be zero.
4. Real estate owned at 31 December, with the surface in square metres (a property certificate), or a document stating there is none.
5. Bank balances of the family at 31 December, from each bank, or a document stating there are none.
6. The lease, if the family rents its home.

Check that every document shows the same names as the passports and the same year, then the agency sends them to the sworn translator; each one needs an apostille on the original and on the translation. After you arrive in Rome, you sign your ISEEUP at a partner CAF with these papers. Every detail is in the DiSCo family documents and how to get your ISEEUP.

7. How does the visa file work with the agency?

The visa step rests on money: a blocked amount at a Tunisian bank, your parents' income and 6 months of their bank statements. WSC's sheet says 35,000 TND; the Italian Embassy asked for EUR 10,179.85 for 2026/27, about 34,300 TND at the BCT rate of 7 October 2026 (the bank converts on the day you block, so ask it for the exact dinar amount). The agency checks that the amounts match across your papers and builds the file; you open the student file and block the money at your bank. See how the blocked account works and the 15 documents of the student visa.

How the appointment works

Neither you nor the agency books the appointment: once your university validates your Universitaly pre-enrolment, Almaviva, the Embassy's visa centre, emails you a date that cannot be changed. Check the email address you used on Universitaly every day, spam folder included. The details are in how you get the Almaviva appointment.

How to behave and what to say at the visa centre

At the visa centre, staff check your file, take your fingerprints and may ask you a few questions. From my experience, what helps:

• Arrive early, dressed neatly, with the originals and the copies in the order of the Embassy checklist, so you can hand over any page at once.
• Know your own file: your university, course, city, the length of the course, who pays for your studies and how much, and where you will live for the first weeks.
• Answer briefly and truthfully, in your own words. Do not learn a script, and never bring a document you cannot explain.
• Say why this course, and how it fits what you studied before: one or two sentences are enough.
• Stay calm if something is missing: ask what you can add, and do not argue. Keep your phone silent and go alone unless you are asked to bring someone.

8. Can you do all of this yourself without an agency?

Yes. Every step WSC handles is a public procedure that you can do yourself. The agency saves you time, checks your papers, works with translators it knows and pays foreign fees for you; doing it yourself saves the 5,500 TND. If you go alone, follow our free guide in this order: