On January 21, 2022, the University of New South Wales, Sydney, published the 2021 ranking that combines the three most influential world rankings into a single indicator: Quacquarelli Symonds (Qs), Times Higher Education (The) and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (Arwu). According to ARTU, Sapienza is first in Italy and 155th globally, up from 162nd position in the 2020 edition.

In Italy, the University of Bologna and the University of Padua follow in 167th and 196th positions, respectively. Internationally, ARTU is led by Harvard University, followed by Stanford in second place, and MIT and Oxford tied for third.