Unipa in national and international rankings
Rankings provide an immediate benchmarking of universities. The evaluation involves the combination of different criteria and data (students, teachers, international stakeholders, publications, citations, reputation, awards and funds) and different performance measurement systems.
International rankings are increasingly important for various reasons:
- Over the past 10 years, the number of people studying abroad has more than doubled in OECD countries.
- Half of them choose to study in Europe and consult international rankings.
A good positioning in international rankings helps to promote the image of the University and to determine its attractiveness, both for potential students and for researchers who choose whom to collaborate with on research projects.
International rankings are a global space of visibility. Therefore, being listed in the most prestigious ranking bodies offers an opportunity to extend a University's international reputation. However, it should be noted that, despite there are about 18,000 recognized universities in the world, only 1,000 of these (less than 6%) get evaluated by the most influential rankings.
In light of the great differences that exist between the ranked universities, for a correct reading of the data it is important to consider that placing in the first 500 positions is an excellent result.
In general, it can be said that it is not easy for state universities to achieve good rankings, mainly because every institution is vastly different from the others (in terms of size, funding logic and more). With regard to the teacher/student ratio, there are no universities with more than 20,000 students at the top of international rankings.
The choice of criteria is also more likely to favor certain types of universities. For instance, the most well-known and consulted ranking bodies in the world are ARWU Shanghai, Times Higher Education World University Ranking, QS World University Ranking, US News Best Global Ranking which primarily measure reputation and awards obtained by professors and graduates. These are designed with the aim of highlighting more prestigious institutions that could represent an excellent investment for students who want to enroll.
These are the most used metrics:
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Research output (publications and citations) |
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Dimensional data on students (teacher / student ratio, number of graduates, number of doctorates, etc.) |
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Surveys carried out in the international academic community and companies in order to develop reputation indicators (survey) |
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Financial data (managed funds, budgets, research funding, private funding, graduate employment rate) |
The charts of the rankings and the criteria used are listed below (click on the name of the desired ranking body to see the related content)
Censis - Ranking of Italian Universities
The Censis Ranking of Italian Universities is a tool that was created to provide a guideline for students who are ready to embark on a university career and it is now in its twenty-first edition. This is an articulated analysis of the Italian university system (state and non-state universities, divided into homogeneous categories by size) based on the evaluation of available structures, services provided, levels of internationalization, 2.0 communication capacity and employability.
State universities are divided into five groups on the basis of their number of enrollments. This information is provided by the MIUR Statistical Office based on data from the National Student Registry (ANS) (up to 10,000: "SMALL"; from 10,000 to 20,000: "MEDIUM"; from 20,000 to 40,000: "LARGE"; over 40,000: "MEGA"; Polytechnics).
In the CENSIS 2022/2023 Ranking, the University of Palermo competes with 9 other MEGA Universities:
Bologna, Padua, Rome “La Sapienza”, Florence, Pisa, Turin, Milan, Bari, Naples “Federico II”.
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CENSIS RANKING 2024/2025 |
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Punteggio |
Posizione UniPa |
1° Ateneo |
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|
Classifica generale |
83,8 |
4° |
Padova |
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|
Borse |
78 |
5° |
Roma La Sapienza |
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|
Comunicazione |
107 |
1° |
Padova e Palermo |
|
|
Internazionalizzazione |
80 |
7° |
Bologna |
|
|
Servizi |
72 |
5° |
Pisa |
|
|
Strutture |
87 |
1° |
Bologna e Palermo |
|
|
Occupabilità |
79 |
9° |
Milano |
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| CENSIS CLASSIFICATION Mega State Universities - UNIPA POSITION OVER TIME | |||||||
| 19/20[*] | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 | 23/24 | 24/25 | ||
| General classification | 13° | 12° | 7° | 7° | 7° | 4° | |
| Scholarships | 16° | 13° | 9° | 10° | 7° | 5° | |
| Communication | 7° | 3° | 1° | 2° | 1° | 1° | |
| Internationalization | 11° | 9° | 7° | 6° | 7° | 7° | |
| Services | 10° | 4° | 6° | 6° | 7° | 5° | |
| Structures | 6° | 6° | 2° | 2° | 2° | 1° | |
| Employability | 12° | 14° | 9° | 10° | 9° | 9° | |
[*] In the academic years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 the University of Palermo was classified by CENSIS as a GREAT University and competed with another 15 and 16 universities respectively.
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SUBJECT AREAS |
DEGREE PROGRAM |
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MA (LM) |
BA (LT) |
MA (LCU) |
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Rank |
Number of Universities |
Rank |
Number of Universities |
Rank |
Number of Universities |
|
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Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Science |
10° |
21 |
17° |
26 |
|
|
|
Architecture and Civil Engineering |
9° |
29 |
24° |
29 |
10° |
20 |
|
Art and Design |
9° |
23 |
24° |
32 |
|
|
|
Economics |
12° |
33 |
29° |
40 |
|
|
|
Education and Training |
11° |
27 |
14° |
24 |
|
|
|
Computer Science and Information Systems |
|
6° |
23 |
|
|
|
|
Industrial and Information engineering |
11° |
25 |
6° |
35 |
|
|
|
Law |
22° |
25 |
||||
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Literature and Humanities |
10° |
33 |
17° |
29 |
|
|
|
Linguistics |
5° |
28 |
9° |
31 |
|
|
|
Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy |
|
|
|
|
13° |
28 |
|
Law and Legal Studies |
|
|
|
|
15° |
36 |
|
Medicine |
|
|
|
|
28° |
29 |
|
Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Medicine |
7° |
25 |
21° |
29 |
|
|
|
Dentistry and Dental Prosthodontics |
|
|
|
|
28° |
28 |
|
Political Sciences, Sociology and Communication Studies |
5° |
28 |
24° |
32 |
|
|
|
Psychology |
14° |
22 |
13° |
21 |
|
|
|
Science |
18° |
28 |
17° |
27 |
|
|
|
Primary Teacher Education |
|
|
|
|
10° |
21 |
|
Sports Science |
3° |
16 |
13° |
22 |
|
|
ARWU - Shanghai Academic Ranking
ARWU – Shanghai Academic Ranking (2023)
First published in 2003, the Chinese Ranking produced by the Jiao Tong University values research results at a prestigious level, such as Nobel Prizes, and quantitative aspects, i.e. the most productive and most cited researchers according to the Web of Science (WoS) database:
Criteria used
- Quality of Education: Alumni from an institution that has won Nobel Prizes and Fields medals.
- Faculty Quality: Personnel of a Nobel Prize winning and Fields medal winning institution; highly cited researchers.
- Research output: Articles published on Nature and Science, articles indexed in Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index.
- Per Capita Performance: Per capita academic performance of an institution.
| Unipa in the global rankings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World University Ranking | Publication date | UniPa position in the world | UniPa position in Italy | 1st University in Italy |
| ARWU Shanghai | ago-24 | 701-800 | 31° | Università di Roma "La Sapienza" |
| Unipa in the disciplinary rankings | |||
| International disciplinary ranking (World Subject Ranking) | Publication date | UniPa Best Subject | Best Subject: UniPa position in the world |
| ARWU Shanghai | ago-24 | Agricultural Sciences | 101-150 |
| Veterinary Sciences | 201-300 | ||
| Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences | 301-400 | ||
| Medical Technology | 301-400 | ||
| Earth Sciences | 401-500 | ||
| Chemical Engineering | 401-500 | ||
| Energy Science & Engineering | 301-400 | ||
| Biotechnology | 401-500 | ||
go to Academic Ranking of World Universities website
QS - Quacquarelli Symonds Ranking
QS - Quacquarelli Symonds Ranking (2025)
The QS Ranking uses two Reputation Surveys administered to academics and employers. The data relates to scientific production present in the Scopus database and data on the size and internationalization of universities (provided by the QS itself).
Criteria used
- Academic reputation - quality of teaching and research in universities around the world. Opinions of higher education experts, creating the largest academic opinion poll in the world.
- Employer reputation - skills and knowledge required for the job market. How institutions prepare students for successful careers and which institutions provide the most competent, innovative and efficient graduates.
- Faculty / Student Ratio - a high number of academics per student reduces the workload and creates a more supportive student experience.
- Citations by faculty - quality of university research with citation metrics by faculty, the total number of academic citations in documents produced by a university over a five-year period.
- International Student and International Faculty Ratio - ability to attract quality students and staff from around the world, implying a highly global perspective.
| Unipa in the global rankings | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World University Ranking | Publication date | UniPa position in the world | UniPa position in Europe | UniPa position in Italy | 1st University in Italy | |
| QS | jun-24 | 851-900 | 337 | 33 | Politecnico di Milano | |
| Unipa in the disciplinary rankings | |||
| International disciplinary ranking (World Subject Ranking) | Publication date | UniPa Best Subject | Best Subject: UniPa position in the world |
| QS | jun-24 | Agriculture & Forestry | 301-350 |
| Engineering - Chemical | 301-350 | ||
| Enviromental Sciences | 401-450 | ||
| Physics and Astronomy | 451-500 | ||
| Medicine | 501-600 | ||
| Natural Sciences | 501-550 | ||
| Biological Science | 501-550 | ||
| Chemistry | 601-650 | ||
go to QS World University Rankings website
RUR - Round University Ranking
RUR - Round University Ranking
The ranking produced by the Russian agency RUR measures the institutional performance of world universities through 20 indicators of statistical, bibliometric (WoS database) and reputational data provided by universities and collected by Clarivate Analytics. The result is a comprehensive rating system that includes various rankings.
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- Didactics (relationship between teachers / students and teachers / graduates, PhDs)
- Research (citations, publications and doctorates)
- Internalization (teachers, students, collaborations and overall level)
- Funds (revenue, research revenue)
- Reputation (teaching, research and international)
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| Unipa in the global rankings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World University Ranking | Publication date | UniPa position in the world | UniPa position in Italy | 1st University in Italy |
| RUR | Apr - 2022 | 650 | 21° | Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa |
go to Round University Ranking website
THE - Times Higher Education Ranking
THE - Times Higher Education Ranking (2025)
The THE Ranking provides, like QS, a Reputation Survey among academics and examines activities and resources employed for research, as well as teaching and international prospects. THE uses the Scopus database and dimensional data requested directly from universities.
Criteria used
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- Didactics (teacher / student and PhD relationship)
- Research (citations)
- Research (publications in Scopus)
- Internationalization (teachers, students and collaborations)
- Funds (revenue, revenue for research and third parties)
- Reputation (teaching and research)
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| Unipa in the global rankings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World University Ranking | Publication date | UniPa position in the world | UniPa position in Italy | 1st University in Italy |
| THE | Oct - 2024 | 601-800 | 40 | Bologna |
| Unipa in the disciplinary rankings | |||
| International disciplinary ranking (World Subject Ranking) | Publication date | UniPa Best Subject | Best Subject: UniPa position in the world |
| THE | Oct-24 | Law | 251-300 |
| Engineering and Technology | 601-800 | ||
| Arts and Umanities | 601 + | ||
| Clinical, pre-clinical and health | 401-500 | ||
| Life Sciences | 401-500 | ||
| Physical Sciences | 601-800 | ||
| Business and Economics | 601-800 | ||
go to Times Higher Education World University Rankings website
US NEWS
US NEWS - (2024)
The US NEWS ranking was born in the United States in 1983 to evaluate American colleges and then extend its rankings to the rest of the world.
The overall ranking of the best global universities includes 2,000 top-tier universities, spread across 95 countries.
The first step in producing these rankings, powered by Clarivate™ involved the creation of a pool of 2,011 universities used to rank the top 2,000 schools.
The second step was to calculate the ranking using the 13 indicators and weights that US News chose to measure global search performance.
The indicators and their percentage of the ranking are listed in the following table:
| Indicator |
%
|
| Global research reputation |
12,50%
|
| Regional research reputation |
12,50%
|
| Publications |
10%
|
| Books |
2,50%
|
| Conferences |
2,50%
|
| Normalized citation impact |
10%
|
| Total citations |
7,50%
|
| Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited |
12,50%
|
| Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited |
10%
|
| International collaboration - relative to country |
5%
|
| International collaboration |
5%
|
| Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited |
5%
|
| Percentage of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited |
5%
|
Criterias
| Unipa nelle classifiche globali | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graduatoria internazionale globale (World University Ranking) | Data pubblicazione | Posizione UniPa nel mondo | Posizione UniPa in Europa meridionale | Posizione UniPa in Italia | 1° Ateneo in Italia |
| US NEWS | ott-23 | 558 | 210 | 30 | Università degli Studi di Bologna e Università degli Studi di Padova |
| Unipa nelle classifiche disciplinari | |||
| Graduatoria internazionale disciplinare (World Subject Ranking) | Data pubblicazione | UniPa Best Subject | Best Subject: posizione UniPa nel mondo |
| US NEWS | ott-23 | Agricultural Sciences | 286 |
| Chemistry | 482 | ||
| Clinical Medicine | 472 | ||
| Biology and Biochemistry | 536 | ||
| Engineering | 499 | ||
| Environment/Ecology | 496 | ||
| Energy and Fuels | 399 | ||
| Gastroenterology and Hepatology | 117 | ||
| Materials Science | 849 | ||
| Mathematics | 335 | ||
| Oncology | 341 | ||
| Pharmacology and Toxicology | 417 | ||
| Physical Chemistry | 568 | ||
| Physics | 690 | ||
| Plant and Animal Science | 427 | ||
| Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging | 432 | ||
| Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging | 195 | ||
| Geosicenses | 426 | ||
| Green and Sustainable Science and Technology | 250 | ||
| Neuroscience and Behavior | 459 | ||
go to US NEWS website
CWUR
CWUR - (2024)
The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) publishes an academic ranking of global universities that evaluates the quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, and research performance without relying on surveys and presentations of university data.
CWUR uses seven objective and robust indicators grouped into four areas to rank the world's universities:
- Education: Based on the academic success of a university's alumni, measured against the size of the university (25%)
- employability: based on the professional success of a university's alumni, measured against the size of the university (25%)
- Faculty: Measured by the number of faculty members who have received top academic distinctions (10%)
- The research:
- Research results: measured by the total number of research articles (10%)
- High-quality publications: Measured by the number of research articles appearing in top-tier journals (10%)
- Influence: Measured by the number of research articles appearing in highly influential journals (10%)
- Citations: Measured by the number of highly cited research articles (10%)
Criterias
| Unipa nelle classifiche globali | |||||
| Graduatoria internazionale globale (World University Ranking) | Data pubblicazione | Posizione UniPa nel mondo | Posizione UniPa in Europa | Posizione UniPa in Italia | 1° Ateneo in Italia |
| CWUR | apr-24 | 587 | 233 | 28 | Università di Roma "La Sapienza" |
go to CWUR website
U-Multirank
U-Multirank (June 2023)
U-Multirank is a European Commission project developed by an independent non-profit consortium led by the Center for Higher Education (CHE) in Germany in collaboration with the CHEPS and CWTS Centers of the University of the Netherlands. The ranking is multidimensional and is constructed in such a way as to bring out the characteristics and strengths of the universities analyzed, comparing them on about 40 indicators grouped into 5 dimensions.
Criteria used
Teaching: graduation rates (three-year and master's), current graduates (three-year and master's).
International orientation: graduation rates (three-year and master's), current graduates (three-year and master's), courses offered in foreign languages (three-year and master's), student mobilities, internationalization (teachers, publications, doctorates).
Research: publications (total, standardized, without reviews, interdisciplinary), artistic output, citations (citation rates and most cited outputs), number of postdocs (fellows), strategic partnerships, external research funds.
Contribution to regional growth: graduates employed in the Region (bachelor's and master's), internships for students in the Region, collaborations with the Region (publications, publications with companies, strategic partnerships), funds from the Region.
Knowledge transfer: publications (in collaboration with companies, cited in the patents), patents (total, per teacher, with companies), spin-offs, fresh graduates-founded businesses, funds (from private individuals, from continuing education courses).
| Unipa in the global rankings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World University Ranking | Publication date | UniPa position in the world | UniPa position in Italy | 1st University in Italy |
| U-Multirank | Jun - 2023 | 53 | Università degli Studi d'Aosta | |
go to U-Multirank website