This year has been a school year like no other, but as educators plan for the September school openings, there are many students who are now beginning to think about studies abroad for future semesters. To gain some perspective, the latest rankings for Italian universities have been published.
Italy has 36 universities in the latest QS World University Rankings for 2021, which is two more than last year’s ratings. Within Europe, that puts it ahead of almost every country. QS is the world’s most consulted ranking and measures factors including the opinions of academics and employers, class sizes and the number of international students.
This year, it declared the best Italian university to be the Politecnico di Milano, which was ranked in the 137th spot, up from 149th last year, out of the top 1,000 institutions worldwide. It gained the top ranking in Italy for the fifth year in a row. The biggest technical university in Italy, Politecnico di Milano scores highly for research and for its reputation with employers. The university also draws well among international students, with more than 100 countries represented in the student body and almost all postgraduate courses offered in English. According to rankings for subject areas, the university ranked 6th worldwide for Design; 7th for Civil, Structural and Mechanical Engineering; 11th for Architecture and 20th in the world for Engineering and Technology. The historic university enjoys a strong reputation among academics and in recent years has attracted more EU funding for research and innovation than any other Italian institution.
The other universities that ranked within the top ten in Italy included the University of Bologna, the world’s oldest, which reached 160th in the overall rankings; La Sapienza in Rome, at 171st overall; Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, 204th; the University of Padua,216th; the University of Milan, 301st; followed closely by Politecnico di Torino (308th and the University of Pisa at 383rd. Rounding out the list were Milan’s University Vita-Salute San Raffaele which tied with the University of Naples in the 392nd slot. The latter rose from 424th last year to reach in top 400 ranking.
Other Italian universities scored particularly well in certain categories, with most of Italy’s best marks coming in the field of research. Employers ranked Milan’s Bocconi University, which as a specialist business and law school is not included in the overall ranking. The university ranked 70th in the world for the desirability by employers for the hiring of its graduates. Pisa’s Scuola Normale Superiore came in 16th worldwide for its outstanding ratio of faculty to students – 190 academics for 560 students.
