Times Higher Education Rankings: The University of Bologna is First in Italy

For five years running, the University of Bologna has held its position as the top-ranked Italian university in the World University Rankings by Times Higher Education (THE), one of the most renowned and respected international university rankings.

On the global scale, our University climbs nine places, rising from 155th to 146th, confirming a consistent upward trajectory: over the past four years alone, the University has moved up 26 spots.

Among Italian universities, the University of Bologna is followed by Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (154th), Sapienza University of Rome (185th), University of Padua (201st-250th), Politecnico di Milano (201st-250th), Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (201st-250th), and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (201st-250th).

The University of Bologna improves its scores in four of the five areas assessed in the ranking, with notable progress in research ecosystem indicators (+7%) and internationalization (+5%). The University also achieves a perfect score (100/100) in the indicator evaluating the quality of PhD programmes.

For the first time, these results place the University of Bologna among the top 150 institutions in the ranking.  If we consider that there are 26.000 universities in the world, the University of Bologna soundly sits among the 1% best universities on a global level.

“The University of Bologna continues to pursue, in all its endeavours, the dual objective of growing in quality while never compromising our social mission or our role as a large, public, open, and inclusive university," says Rector Giovanni Molari.  "It is thanks to the tireless dedication of our colleagues, their teaching, research, and professional expertise, that we can compete confidently with universities that have a tenth of our student population and ten times our funding. For us, these top rankings are a proud testament to the commitment of our community.”