ROME - Italian universities continue to rank highly in international university rankings, with La Sapienza, Rome, taking first place for classics. The 15th edition of the QS World University Rankings, which analyses the performance of over 1,700 universities in 100 countries, saw 56 Italian universities obtain 632 placements, a significant increase of 55 positions compared to last year’s ranking. Italy has the third highest amount of universities placed within the top 100 among the countries of the European Union, behind Germany and the Netherlands. One of the stand out universities on this list is La Sapienza, which for the fifth consecutive year has been ranked as first in the world for classics, with a score of 99.1, above Oxford and Cambridge.

 University Rector Antonella Polimeni commented on this result, underlining the increase in international students who are now choosing La Sapienza to study Latin and ancient civilisations. La Sapienza has also distinguished itself in other disciplines, recording improvements in Arts & Humanities, Natural Sciences and Engineering & Technology, placing them in the top 100 worldwide for these academic fields. Other Italian universities that have obtained excellent results are the Politecnico di Milano, which has maintained its position among the best worldwide in the field of art, design and architecture, while Bocconi has continued to dominate in marketing and economics.

 The Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa maintained also a prominent position in classics and ancient history, and the University of Venice distinguished itself in history of art. But amongst the southern universities only the Federico II, University of Naples excelled, particularly in the field of dentistry. The improvement in the global performance of Italian universities is a sign of the growth of the university system, but there are also some other critical assessments: about 40% of Italian placements in the ranking remained unchanged and 37% recorded a decline compared to the previous year.

 Globally, the ranking saw Harvard University excel, taking first place in 19 disciplines, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -MIT- which took first place in 12 disciplines. American universities continue to dominate, with a record number of placements in the top positions. China's Peking University has also out this year, climbing several positions in the various disciplines.

 Singapore, although smaller in size, also stood out as one of the countries with the highest number of placements in the top ten, consolidating its influence on a global higher education.

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