QS by Subject 2026: Sapienza breaks records in Classics, Archaeology and History of Art

Sapienza is the world’s top university for Classics & Ancient History and ranks among the top ten for Archaeology and History of Art. This is the first time an Italian university has placed three subjects in the top ten of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, published on March 25. The 2026 edition of the report confirms, for the sixth consecutive year, Sapienza's top ranking in classical studies – the only such global ranking held by an Italian university – and recognises the humanities with 7th place overall for both art history and archaeology, with Archaeology rising from 11th to 7th place and History of Arts jumping from 18th to 7th.Sapienza has also improved in terms of the number of disciplines ranked in the world’s top 50, rising from four in 2025 to 6six in the 2026 rankings just released; in particular, Classics & Ancient History (1), Archaeology (7), History of Art (7) and Physics & Astronomy (38), whilst Modern Languages (42) and Pharmacy & Pharmacology (48) have entered the top 50. Among the top 100, Sapienza ranks first in Italy with 26 subjects. In terms of total entries in the ranking, it ranks second nationally with 46 subjects. The subject-specific ranking compiled by QS is divided into five broad subject areas, covering a total of 55 subjects. The ranking takes into account the following indicators: academic reputation and reputation among employers based on the opinions of recruiters worldwide; citations per paper; the use of the ‘H-Index’ to measure citation productivity and the impact of publications; and finally, the International Research Network (IRN) regarding co-authors of international research publications. The weighting of the indicators varies by individual subject and broad subject area. To compile the 2026 ranking, over 6,277 institutions were considered, of which 1,912 were included in the ranking.

Sapienza confirmed as Italy's top university for Arts and Humanities in THE by Subject ranking

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, published on January 21, 2026, ranked Sapienza first in Italy for Arts and Humanities for the twelfth consecutive year. Sapienza also ranks 33rd in the world in the same discipline for the second consecutive year. Sapienza also climbed 14 places in the Law ranking, placing 61st worldwide. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject classify universities according to 11 disciplines: Arts and Humanities; Business and Economics; Medical and Health; Computer Science; Education Studies; Engineering; Law; Life Sciences; Physical Sciences; Psychology; and Social Sciences. Times Higher Education considers the following indicators when compiling the ranking: Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry, International Outlook. On October 9, the Times Higher Education magazine published its 2026 World University Rankings. Sapienza University was ranked 170th worldwide.

Sapienza comes third in the QS European University Rankings 2026

Sapienza remains among the top 100 Italian universities in the special QS European university ranking, published on 28 January, placing 77th overall and third among Italian universities, as in previous years. Sapienza's overall score of 77.9 out of 100 is particularly high, reflecting its strong performance in several key areas: academic reputation (99.2), scientific productivity of its faculty (95.3), employment outcomes of its graduates (98.9), and sustainability (94.5).