Ranking of the best faculties of architecture in the world: the international ranking of the QS World Universities and the italian ranking 2020 drawn up by Censis.
Every year the time comes when we look at rankings. We've talked about the best architecture firms based on annual turnover, but how does Italy perform in training its professionals in the field of architecture and building engineering?
International vision: QS World Ranking 2020
The QS Top Universities annually compiles the ranking of universities in Architecture & Built Enviroment worldwide. The list of top faculties is constructed based on four main indices: H-index Citation, Citations per Paper, Academic Reputation, Employer Reputat. All indices compose a total score - Overall Score - which determines the overall position in the ranking.
The 2020 international rankings see the following ranked in the top ten respectively:
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge - United States (96.1)
2. UCL, London - United Kingdom (95.9)
3. Delft University of Technology, Delft - Netherlands (93.2)
4. ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich - Switzerland (92.9)
5. Harvard University, Cambridge - United States (89.2)
6. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore - Singapore (87.4)
7. University of California Berkley (UCB), Berkley - United States (87.1)
8. Tsinghua University, Beijing - China (Mainland) (85.3)
9. University of Cambridge, Cambridge - United States (84.8)
10. Politecnico di Milano, Milan - Italy (84.5)
The Politecnico di Milano, the first Italian university ranked internationally, is in the Top 10 worldwide with an overall score of 84.5, distancing itself from the first ranked university, MIT, which received a score of 96.1. The second Italian university, inside the Top 50, is the Politecnico di Torino, which ranks 34th with a score of 74.3, tied with Stanford University, Stanford - United States. Within the top 100 we still find La Sapienza of Rome and the IUAV University of Venice.
Best Italian Faculties of Architecture
The annual ranking of Italian architecture faculties is drawn up by Censis (Centro Studi Investimenti Sociali), which has been conducting research in the socio-economic field since 1964, the year it was founded.
The study center compiles the national rankings of the best state and non-state faculties on the basis of different factors, such as available facilities, services provided, scholarships, level of internationalization, communication and employability. The rankings are divided according to specific thematic areas and take into account homogeneous categories, identifying that of architecture and construction engineering and bringing them together in three categories:
- Single-cycle master's degrees;
- Three-year degrees;
- Two-year degrees;
The analysis of the score accrued by the single-cycle master's degrees highlights Ferrara which, first among all, stands out with 104.5, followed by Trieste 102.5 and Pavia 101.5. In fourth place is the Milan Polytechnic, 9 points behind. Ferrara is also in first place for "Career Progression", while Trieste is in first place for "International Relations".
The ranking of Bachelor’s degrees for "General Score" sees Ferrara in first place with 104.5, Sassari in second with 101.5 and IUAV of Venice in third with 99.0. Off the podium is the Milan Polytechnic, followed by Camerino and Pavia. In the "Career Progression" ranking, the IUAV of Venice is first, 6 points ahead of Camerino and the Milan Polytechnic, with equal merit. Ferrara is the undisputed first for "International Relations" followed by Sassari and Venice IUAV.
For two-year degrees, Milan Polytechnic is in first place at 110.0, followed by Bologna 97.5, tied with Venice IUAV 97.5. In fourth place is Roma Tor Vergata, followed by Padua with the same score as the Turin Polytechnic. In the ranking of "Career Progression", the Milan Polytechnic is always first, followed by Bologna and Reggio Calabria. In the "International Relations" ranking, the first place is always held by the Milan Polytechnic, the second by the IUAV of Venice, while the third is held by Roma Tor Vergata.
2020: a year of complexity and diversity
2020 has been a particular year at a global level, in which universities have had to modify their teaching methods, adapting rapidly to the new needs dictated by the lockdown period. The factors that have most frightened universities are the risk of a collapse in enrolment dictated by the impact generated by the pandemic, as well as the lowering of the flow of international students, which normally stands at 1.7% of total enrolment. The risk of a collapse in enrolment is, therefore, real and depends on the economic-social crisis dictated by the impact of the pandemic on the incomes and prospects of families and students.
For this reason, Censis has highlighted the reactivity of the faculties in finding a solution to the sudden change that university education has had to face starting from March 2020: more than half of the Italian universities were able to switch to distance teaching within a week, while the remainder in about two weeks.
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