Egypt vs Italy Grading System

How does the Egypt grading system work?

Egyptian universities use a percentage system under Supreme Council of Universities oversight. Mumtaz (Excellent) is awarded at 85%+ (some faculties set it at 90%), so an 88% is a genuinely top result. Grading varies by faculty.

How does the Italy grading system work?

Italian university exams use an 18–30 scale where 18 is minimum pass. Final degrees use a separate 66–110 scale. These are NOT interchangeable.

⚠️ Italy uses TWO different scales: 18–30 for individual exams and 66–110 for final degree. Enter your exam grades here, not your degree score.

Do Egypt and Italy mark to the same standard?

No — and it is the difference in marking culture, not the arithmetic, that makes a direct comparison mislead. Here is how each country actually uses its own scale.

What a good grade means in Egypt

Egyptian marking is conservative at the top: Mumtaz begins at 85 and high marks are genuinely rare, so an aggregate in the 80s is a strong result rather than the middling one it would be in the United States. This is an area where our own data was previously wrong — we had Mumtaz starting at 80, which over-credited a whole country until it was corrected — and it illustrates the wider point: an Egyptian 82 is Jayyid Jiddan, a very good degree, and reading it as an American 82% both flatters and misleads.

What a good grade means in Italy

Italian marking is generous at the pass end and demanding at the top: 18 out of 30 clears an exam, but 30 e lode is a genuine distinction. The practical point for anyone applying abroad is to send the right number. A converter or an admissions form asking for your grade usually means the exam scale, while an entry requirement quoted as "83/110" means the degree scale — and quoting one where the other is expected produces an answer that is wildly wrong in either direction.

Will a grade from Egypt get you into Italy?

Italy universities typically ask for 22 / 30 for a taught master's — a one-to-two-year postgraduate degree made mostly of classes. On Egypt's scale that is roughly 61–69 / 100 (Good (جيد)). Italy sets admission per programme rather than nationally, and the requirement is usually framed as "adequate personal preparation" plus specific credits (CFU) in named subject areas — the grade is only one part of it. Bologna's civil engineering laurea magistrale states a 22/30 exam average, or equivalently a final graduation grade of at least 83/110 on Italy's separate degree scale.

University of Bologna — Civil Engineering (laurea magistrale) enrolment requirements · checked 2026-07-25 · the figure in your own terms is a double conversion, so it is a range. how this is worked out

Excellent (80%+) → approximately 4.0 GPA.

What goes wrong converting grades from Egypt to Italy?

Egypt rarely awards near the top of its own scale, so a result that looks modest in Egypt terms converts higher than a direct comparison suggests.

Mistakes specific to Egypt grades

• Reading an Egyptian percentage as an American one. An 82 is Jayyid Jiddan here, a genuinely strong result, not the unremarkable grade it appears in the US.
• Assuming the Mumtaz threshold is fixed. It varies by faculty between 85 and 90, so check what your own certificate states.
• Submitting the certificate without the transcript. Evaluators want the year-by-year record, not only the final descriptor.

What should you do next, applying from Egypt to Italy?

1. Check the course, not the country. Entry requirements are set per programme and revised every cycle. The 22 / 30 above is the typical bar, not a guarantee — selective courses ask for more.
2. Check whether an evaluation is even required. Unlike the US and Canada, Italy universities commonly assess foreign transcripts in-house. Confirm on the course page before paying for a report you may not need.
3. Get your documents moving early. Universities normally require your transcript sent directly by your institution rather than as a copy from you, which takes longer than most applicants expect.
4. Read both systems in full. How Egypt grading works · How Italy grading works

What do these grading terms mean?

Percentage scale

A 0–100 marking scale — but the numbers are not comparable across countries: 70% is an outstanding result in the UK and a modest one in India.

GPA (Grade Point Average)

The US way of expressing an overall grade, on a 0–4.0 scale where 4.0 is the top — so a 4.0 is roughly what a 90–100% or a First Class would be elsewhere.

Degree classification

A named band your final result falls into — First Class, 2:1, Distinction — used across the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, India and much of the Commonwealth instead of a single number.

Transcript

The official document from your university listing every subject you took and the grade you got — not the same as your degree certificate, and universities abroad want both.

Credential evaluation

A paid report from an approved company that restates your foreign qualification in local terms, which many US and Canadian universities require before they will assess you.

Credits / credit hours

A measure of how much a subject counts toward your degree — bigger subjects carry more credits and pull your average further.

Frequently asked questions