THE World University Rankings by Subject: the university’s positioning and the methodology

The University of Bologna’s positioning in the Times Higher Education ranking of scientific subjects.

Results of the 2026 ranking at a glance

  • Law 32nd out of 425
  • Arts and Humanities 39th out of 817
  • Business and Economics 76th  place tied out of 1087
  • Computer Science between 101st and 125th  out of 1165
  • Social Sciences between 126th and 150th out of 1202
  • Psychology  between 151st and 175th out of 694
  • Education Studies between 176th and 200th   out of 830
  • Life Sciences between 176th and 200th out of 1211
  • Physical Sciences between 176th and 200th out of 1497
  • Engineering between 251st and 300th out of 1555

Methodology 

Indicators and number of universities analysed

There are approximately 2000 universities analysed worldwide and they are classified according to 11 subjects.

Indicators

Indicator Indicator description Weighting
Research Quality

Citation impact

Research strength

Research excellence

Research influence

The weighting of the indicator varies according to subject
Industry

Research income from industry

Patents

The weighting of the indicator varies according to subject
International outlook

Ratio of international to national academic staff

Proportion of publications with at least one international co-author

Ratio of international to national students

The weighting of the indicator varies according to subject
Research environment

Average number of Scopus-indexed articles per academic staff member

Research income

Research reputation

The weighting of the indicator varies according to subject
Teaching

Ratio of PhD graduates to first-level degree graduates

Ratio of PhD graduates to academic staff

Teaching reputation

Teaching income

Student-staff ratio

The weighting of the indicator varies according to subject

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