← Back to the rankingLiceo Statale Scientifico e Classico Ettore Majorana
Desio, Italy · est. 1973 · State
Illustration · Desio
Liceo Statale Scientifico e Classico Ettore Majorana is a state liceo in Desio (province of Monza and Brianza). It started in 1969 as a branch of the Paolo Frisi liceo in Monza, became independent in October 1973 and was named after the physicist Ettore Majorana in 1986. In the 2025-2026 school year it has 1206 students in 55 classes, 21 per class on average. The liceo runs three Italian tracks: liceo scientifico, scientifico with the scienze applicate option and liceo classico. One liceo scientifico section has four hours of English a week in years 1-2, and in years 3-5, if the class is large enough and teachers are available, runs the percorso Cambridge: Cambridge IGCSE History and AS Level Mathematics are added to the Italian curriculum. The main language of instruction is Italian; some modules are taught in English using CLIL. Since the 2012-2013 school year the liceo has been a centre for the written Cambridge English First exam; it hosts foreign exchange students and runs many activities: theatre, orchestra and choir, chess, a school newspaper and radio.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
Latin, French, German, Spanish
Class size
21 students per class on average
About the fees The liceo is a state school (liceo statale): there is no tuition fee. Families pay a voluntary contribution (contributo volontario): for the 2026-2027 school year 180 euros for the first or only child, 120 euros for the second and 100 euros for the third; it covers insurance, record books, certificates and extra programmes and is 19% tax deductible. For the Cambridge section a compulsory fee of 120 euros applied in the 2025-2026 school year.
Admissions The liceo is a state school: families apply for the first year through the national Iscrizioni online system, then complete enrolment by appointment at the end of June or early July with the middle school certificate (licenza media), the competence certificate and parents' documents; parents report the final middle school exam mark. There is one section with extra English followed by the Cambridge course; the course opens in year 3 only if the class is large enough and teachers are available. The liceo hosts foreign students arriving through cultural exchange programmes: they are placed in classes with a dedicated timetable, and a coordinator handles incoming foreign students. The site does not separately address regular enrolment of foreign students.
Stages and year groups Italian curriculum with the esame di Stato (maturità): liceo scientifico, liceo scientifico opzione scienze applicate, liceo classico. Cambridge International: one liceo scientifico section has four hours of English a week in years 1-2 (instead of three), and in years 3-5 the percorso Cambridge with Cambridge IGCSE History and AS Level Mathematics (the section timetable has history 2 hours and mathematics 4 hours a week in years 3-5); the course opens in year 3 if the class is large enough and teachers are available. Since the 2020-2021 school year there have been sections with extra English leading to the Cambridge three-year course. In year 5 one subject is taught in English using CLIL.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE, AS and A Level. One section of the science liceo has four hours of English in years 1-2, then IGCSE History and AS Level Mathematics in years 3-5 if enough students enrol.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: Classes are split between two neighbouring buildings: the historic Sede1 and Sede2, opened in October 2010. There are chemistry and physics labs and two computer labs, a digital library, a main hall, a theatre and a podcast studio, two gyms (the second, a tensile structure, in use since 2021), and about 280 computers and tablets in classrooms. Since 2020 the liceo has had a 1 Gbps fibre connection to the GARR research network.
Clubs and activities: Majoteatro (theatre) · Majorchestra (orchestra) · Majocoro (choir) · Majosuona (school band) · Majodanza (dance) · MajoScacchi (chess) · EtCetera (school newspaper) · Majoradio (school radio) · School Sports Club · Debate · B2 Exam Courses · Foreign Language Conversation Courses
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: The CLIL team consists of subject teachers trained in CLIL with a C1 English certificate and English teachers; conversation courses are taught by native or bilingual speakers.
The PTOF notes a stable teaching staff; the liceo has a Cambridge course coordinator and a CLIL teacher team.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The Dis-agio project: listening desks and psychological counselling with teachers trained in psychology and pedagogy. There is a coordinator against bullying and cyberbullying, peer education prevention and a dedicated support desk on these issues.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)85 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country