La Sapienza rises in CWUR world university rankings.

Rome's Università La Sapienza is the top university in Italy according to the 2020-21 ranking by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), a leading consulting organisation and publisher of the largest academic ranking of global universities.

The rankings, released on 8 June, show that La Sapienza has risen 24 points to claim the 114th position out of the approximately 20,000 higher education institutes surveyed.

World universities are ranked based on criteria including quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, and research performance.

• Rome's La Sapienza rated top university in Italy

Harvard University ranks first overall at an international level, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford.

In Italy, following La Sapienza is the University of Padua in 164th place, University of Milan (179), University of Bologna (182), University of Turin (233) and the University of Naples Federico II (245).

• Success for Rome's Sapienza University in world rankings

The other Roman universities, Tor Vergata and Roma Tre, occupy respectively the 310th and 689th positions in the international rankings.

One of the oldest universities in the world, La Sapienza was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.

For full international university rankings see CWUR website.