The Universities of Pisa and "La Sapienza" of Rome are the best in Italy according to the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities (www.shanghairanking.com/) formulated by the "Jiao Tong" University of Shanghai for 2012. The two universities are first among those of Italy, both appearing in the 101 to 150 category worldwide, ranking higher than Milan and Padua, which appear in the 151 to 200 position, and those of Bologna, Florence, Turin, Polytechnic of Milan and Superior Normal School, all of which are in the 201 to 300 category.
In all, 20 Italian universities appear among the first 500 in the world, as compared to 22 last year. Italy, on a par with France, is eighth in the world for the number of universities appearing among the top 500. Once again the countries represented by the greatest number of universities are the United States of America with 17 out of the first 20 and 150 among the first 500, followed by those of China (42 among the first 500, but none among the first 100), Britain (38) and Germany (37).
The result obtained by the University of Pisa is also very encouraging with respect to the macro sectors ("Broad subject fields") and to single subject areas, where it appears among the foremost worldwide. Pisa confirms its leadership in Italy in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and is the only one in Italy to appear among the first 100. In the macro sector Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences it is in the 101 to 150 place worldwide, along with Genoa, Naples "Federico II", and Rome "La Sapienza", coming out lower only than Turin, which appears in the 51 to 75 category.
The University of Pisa is also present in four out of the five subject areas monitored by the ARWU. With respect to 2011, its excellence in the fields of Mathematics and Physics is confirmed -- in both areas it appears in the 76 to 100 rank worldwide, while it is listed in the 101 to 150 category for Chemistry and for Computer Sciences.
The ARWU ranking or 'Shanghai list', now in its tenth annual edition, is among the best known and most trusted internationally. It monitors more than 1000 universities, and its methodology is based on quality indicators both for academic and for research performance. It takes into account the number of international awards obtained by the teaching and research staff, the number of publications and references in citation indexes, and more in general the results obtained in reference to the size of the institution.