THE World University Ranking 2026: Unipd, always among the top 250 globally, continues to improve its research asset
09.10.2025
The results of the 22nd edition of the World University Ranking compiled by the international ranking agency Times Higher Education (THE-WUR) were published on Thursday, 9th October. The University of Padua confirms its performance at the global level, remaining in the 201-250 bracket and fourth in Italy, despite the increase in the number of universities evaluated (from 2092 in the previous edition to 2191).
For the compilation of its ranking, THE investigates five dimensions related to university activities: teaching, research productivity, research quality, technology transfer, and internationalisation. The data used by the ranking agency largely comes from databases and is only partially supplemented by specific data provided by the selected universities.
The University of Padua achieves its best result in teaching, placing 196th worldwide, and gaining 4 positions in research, moving from 255th to 251st. The other indicators remain stable or show slight fluctuations.
The teaching dimension is evaluated through various indicators, including the ratio between the number of students who have obtained a PhD and academic staff; funds acquired related to teaching; student-staff ratio.
In research productivity, the indicators include the average number of articles published per researcher; research funds acquired; and the reputation of the research activity. Research quality evaluates, for example, the number of citations of published articles; research excellence (top 10% of best publications in their discipline). In the field of technology transfer, research funds originating from companies and registered patents are considered.
In the internationalisation area, the ratio between international and national academic staff, the proportion of publications with at least one international co-author, and the ratio between international and national students are evaluated.
“We are proud to learn that our University has maintained its position in the Top 250 of the THE-WUR ranking for the fifth consecutive year,” commented Mara Thiene, Unipd delegate for joint degrees and international rankings, “confirming the commitment dedicated to research, teaching, and the third mission.”
