Italian universities continue to lose ground in international rankings. This is according to the 2026 edition of the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) Global 2000, which has no Italian universities among the top 100 and shows a drop in approximately 80% of the country's universities. Sapienza University of Rome continues to lead the Italian rankings, but now ranks 129th globally, four places lower than the previous year. It is followed by the University of Padua (182), the University of Milan (194), the Alma Mater of Bologna (208), and the Federico II University of Naples (243). Overall, just 13 of the 66 Italian universities on the list have improved their rankings, one has remained stable, and 52 have decreased. According to the authors of the classification, the primary critical area is scientific research, which is becoming increasingly competitive in an international context that is characterized by a rise in investment from other countries. The ranking confirms Harvard as the world's top university, followed by MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford. In the background, China continues to expand, establishing a stronger presence in the global intellectual environment. According to Nadim Mahassen, president of the CWUR, the decline of Italian universities is the result of years of underfunding and a gradual loss of importance assigned to education and research. He worries that this tendency will have far-reaching ramifications for the country's ability for innovation and future development, in addition to the university system.