Number of students at leading Italian universities 2022/2023

In the academic year 2022/2023, over 103,000 students were enrolled at La Sapienza University of Rome, the largest Italian university. Pegaso online University followed with 95,000 enrollments. Around 79,000 students attended classes in Bologna, the oldest university in the world and the best in the country. Finally, the University of Turin collected 72,000 students. In total, 1.9 million undergraduates were enrolled at Italian universities. 

Ancient, public, and digital higher education

Among the 20 largest Italian universities, 16 of them are public institutes. The four private universities are the Catholic University of Milan and three online universities. Among them, Pegaso University was founded in 2006 and counts 95,000 students. Many of the world's oldest higher-learning institutions are located in Italy. The University of Bologna is the oldest university, continuously operating since 1088. In 1222, scholars from Bologna founded the University of Padua. Two years later, in 1224, the University of Naples Federico II was established, the oldest public and secular institution globally. In the 14th century were constituted the universities of Perugia, Siena, Pisa, and Pavia.

Popular courses of study

Back in the Middle Ages, the University of Bologna offered mainly subjects of liberal arts, law, and theology. However, these seem to rank lower among the most common degrees nowadays. Almost 264,000 students in Italy enrolled in economics programs, the most popular field of study. Moreover, medicine was the second most chosen degree program.