Pavia at the top of the Italian rankings for research in mathematics

The results of the Research Quality Assessment for the years 2011-2014 (VQR 2011-2014), published by ANVUR (the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research) on 21st February 2017, rank Pavia in third place for research in mathematics, behind only the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and the SISSA of Trieste. Pavia has ranked first among all universities, of any size, that offer “laurea triennale” (B.Sc.) or “laurea magistrale” (M.Sc.) degrees in mathematics* (* The “laurea magistrale” (B.Sc.) degree is offered by SISSA only in collaboration with the University of Trieste.); these are outlined in yellow in the table below, which reproduces the ANVUR ranking.

The image shows a part of Table 3.2 of the ANVUR reportfor Area 01 (mathematics and computer science). Only data on mathematics have been retained; these have been ordered by decreasing normalised mean score. The names of universities offering “laurea triennale” (B.Sc.) or “laurea magistrale” (M.Sc.) degrees in mathematics are outlined in yellow and the column of normalised mean scores is outlined in orange.


Pavia is ranked first also when restricted to universities which offer degrees in mathematics that were required to submit at least 40 research products (in practice, universities with at least 20 mathematicians).

The full ANVUR report for all scientific areas is available at the ANVUR website (www.anvur.it)

Uniformly high quality

Pavia performs very well in all sectors of mathematics; It is ranked:

  • Second in probability;
  • Third in geometry;
  • Fourth in mathematics education and history of mathematics, in analysis and in numerical analysis;
  • Eighth in mathematical physics.
    • Quality that stays constant over time
      In the 2011-2014 rankings Pavia replicates the results of the 2004-2010 assessment (see table), which showed it clearly first in mathematics among all universities that were required to submit at least 40 research products.