Censis: the university’s positioning and the ranking methodology

Results of the 2023-2024 ranking at a glance

• 1st among Italian mega universities

The result is confirmed for the 14th year running.

Ranking for three-year first-cycle degree programmes, single-cycle degree programmes, and second-cycle degree programmes by subject area

THREE-YEAR FIRST-CYCLE DEGREE PROGRAMMES

• Agricultural forestry and veterinary 2nd
• Architecture and civil engineering 7th
• Art and design 8th
• Economics 1st
• Education and training 3rd
• Law 4th
• Information technology and ICT 5th
• Industrial and Information Engineering 3rd
• Literature-humanities 2nd
• Linguistics 2nd
• Medical and pharmaceutical 3rd
• Political-social studies and communication 1st
• Psychology 4th
• Scientific 1st
• Exercise and sport sciences 1st

SINGLE-CYCLE DEGREE PROGRAMMES

• Architecture and building engineering-architecture 10th
• Pharmacy and industrial pharmacy 4th
• Law 1st
• Medicine 2nd
• Veterinary medicine 3rd
• Dentistry and dental prosthetics 6th
• Primary education sciences 11th

SECOND-CYCLE DEGREE PROGRAMMES

• Agricultural forestry and veterinary 6th
• Architecture and civil engineering 5th
• Art and design 4th
• Economics 2nd
• Education and training 4th
• Law 1st
• Information technology and ICT 4th
• Industrial and information engineering 9th
• Literature-humanities 4th
• Linguistics 2nd
• Medical and pharmaceutical 3rd
• Political-social studies and communication 1st
• Psychology 3rd
• Scientific 1st
• Exercise and sport sciences 3rd

Methodology

Indicators and number of universities analysed

Censis classifies Italian universities by size (number of students enrolled), by type of three-year first-cycle degree programme, second-cycle degree programme and single-cycle degree programme by scientific subject.

Subdivision of universities

Universities are split into five groups based on the number of enrolled students:

• mega: over 40,000 (the University of Bologna is in this group)
• large: 20,000 to 40,000
• average: 10,000 to 20,000
• small: up to 10,000
• polytechnics

Families of indicators and teaching areas

The assessment of universities is divided into six families of indicators, all with equal weighting: grants, communication, internationalisation, services, facilities, employability.
The score for each family of indicators ranges from 66 to 110 points. 

The assessment of degree programmes by scientific subject is based on the arithmetic mean of the summary scores of the two families of indicators student career progression (persistence rate between the first and the second year, regular enrolment rate, rate of regularity of graduates) and international relations (outbound student mobility, host universities, foreign enrolments).

Macro-areas, subjects and positioning