A few days after confirmation as world leader in classical studies in the ranking drawn up by Qs experts, La Sapienza University of Rome ranks first among Italian universities in the international ranking prepared by the Center for World University Rankings (Cwur), confirming the 113th position globally and gaining the 37th in Europe (+1 compared to last year).
The 2022-2023 Cwur ranking confirms the top three positions worldwide at Harvard University, MIT in Boston and Stanford University. In Italy, after Sapienza there are Padua (170th), Milan (179) and Bologna (181).
Despite the flattering results from Italian universities, Nadim Mahassen, president of the Center for World University Rankings, warns: "Although the results of this year's rankings show that Italy has a good higher education system, further funding should be invested in education and research if the country aspires to increase its competitiveness on the global scene. Since research is a key factor in evaluating the performance of national institutions, Italian universities will increasingly find it difficult to compete with research-intensive elite universities in the future if the government does not increase spending on scientific research. "
The ranking, which lists the top 2,000 international universities out of about 20,000 surveyed in 96 countries, is based on 4 indicators: quality of education, employability, quality of the faculty and research.
In the world in fourth place is the University of Cambridge, followed by Oxford, Princeton University, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, the California Institute of Technology, Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley.
In Italy the University of Turin ranks fifth after the University of Bologna, the Federico II of Naples at the sixth, the University of Florence in seventh. Pisa follows in eighth place, then Genoa and Pavia in tenth place. At the bottom of the ranking among Italian universities we find the University of Cassino (64), that of Bergamo (65) and the University of Mediterranean Studies of Reggio Calabria (66).
"The Italian primacy of Sapienza is a prestigious and significant confirmation, obtained in a ranking based on solid objective criteria - comments the rector of the Roman university, Antonella Polimeni - also in this area, as in other international rankings, both general and specific to individual disciplines, the university improves assessments in the main indicators considered: a recognition of the excellence and work of our entire community ".
Among other things, the study underlines that "COVID-19 is changing the way of teaching and research" and that Europe remains an important player with 30 institutions in the top 100 and 640 in the first 2000, but the general picture for 2022 it is grim with growing global competition. Although the United States, despite claiming 28 of the top 50 spots worldwide, only sees 51 universities improving from last year, with 22 retaining their rank and 262 dropping in the rankings. Finally, a mixed picture characterizes the situation in Asia. | 
