ROME. L’University of Trento to the 15th place in Italy (506th in the world, it was in 429th place last year), the Free University of Bolzano at 20th (661st in the world). These are the data that concern us most closely in the 2025 ranking of the best universities in the world.
In the 2025 Qs ranking, the Politecnico di Milano (111th globally) once again emerges as the best Italian university. The significant improvement of 16 positions compared to the previous year highlights the continued excellence of this university. It obtained the highest score nationally for “Reputation among employers”, ranking 82nd globally, up 17 places compared to the last edition.
This, together with the fact that it is the university with the highest proportion of international students in Italy, underlines its commitment to global interconnectedness and diversity. It is the best result ever for an Italian university. La Sapienza University of Rome stands out as the second leading university in Italy, rising to 132nd place globally. Sapienza showed a notable performance in the “International Research Network” indicator, ranking 41st globally. Furthermore, it achieved a commendable result in the “Employment Results of Graduates” indicator, placing 87th place, having gained fourteen positions.
These findings highlight the importance the university places on high-level research and preparing graduates for the job market. In third position in Italy, theAlma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna (133rd worldwide) recorded an increase of twenty-one positions compared to the previous year.
The University of Bologna achieved an excellent performance in the “Academic Reputation” indicator, ranking 69th globally, up six positions. This underlines his dedication to academic excellence and his ongoing commitment to the advancement of knowledge. The University of Padua (236th place globally) is among the top one hundred in the world for the international research network, ranking in 79th place and 110th place for the “Sustainability” indicator. This underlines the University of Padua’s effective commitment to promoting sustainable and responsible practices, confirming its dedication to a greener and more sustainable future. The Polytechnic of Bari (580th) achieved an excellent result in the “Citations per Teacher” indicator, ranking 129th worldwide. This score – say the Qs researchers – underlines the quality of the research activity carried out by the faculty of the Polytechnic of Bari and its notable impact on the international scientific community. This edition of the ranking includes 1,500 universities in 106 countries.
Boson’s MIT dominates on a global level. Here is the top ten:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States (1 in 2023)
- Imperial College London, United Kingdom (6)
- University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- Harvard University, United States (4)
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (2)
- Stanford University, United States (5)
- ETH Zurich, Switzerland (7)
- National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore (8)
- UCL, United Kingdom (9)
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States (15)
