Censis: the university’s positioning and the ranking methodology

Results of the 2025-2026 ranking at a glance

• 2nd among Italian mega universities

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 1st
• Architecture and civil engineering 7th
• Art and design 7th
• Economics 1st
• Education and training 1st
• Law 6th
• Information technology and ICT 8th
• Industrial and Information Engineering 2nd
• Literature-humanities 5th
• Linguistics 2nd
• Medical and pharmaceutical 3rd
• Political-social studies and communication 1st
• Psychology 2nd
• Scientific 1st
• Exercise and sport sciences 2nd

SINGLE-CYCLE DEGREE PROGRAMMES

• Architecture and building engineering-architecture 9th
• Pharmacy and industrial pharmacy 6th
• Law 3rd
• Medicine 3rd
• Veterinary medicine 4th
• Dentistry and dental prosthetics 11th
• Primary education sciences 9th

SECOND-CYCLE DEGREE PROGRAMMES

• Agricultural forestry and veterinary 3rd
• Architecture and civil engineering 7th
• Art and design 5th
• Economics 1st
• Education and training 3rd
• Law 3rd
• Information technology and ICT 3rd
• Industrial and information engineering 10th
• Literature-humanities 6th
• Linguistics 1st
• Medical and pharmaceutical 11th
• Political-social studies and communication 4th
• Psychology 3rd
• Scientific 1st
• Exercise and sport sciences 1st

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