The Scuola Normale is first in Italy on an equal footing with the University of Bologna in the "Social Sciences" sector (Political Sciences) according to the WUR Times Higher Education ranking, which today released the rankings of the best universities in the world with reference to two sectors: namely "Social Sciences" and "Business & Economics".

At an International level the Scuola Normale was ranked in the band between the 151st and the 175th place for Political and Social Sciences. This is the first time that the Normale has featured in this ranking.

The methodology adopted for this ranking uses the same indicators as those used for the global ranking of the THE (World University Ranking): Teaching: 32.4%, Research: 32.6%, Citations: 25%.

To appear in this ranking, a university must possess two requisites: it must have published at least 200 papers in social sciences in the last 5 years; it must possess at least 4% of the academic staff (or a number equal to 40) pertaining to the social sciences.

In the Social Sciences sector in Italy, after the Normale and the University of Bologna, the Sapienza University of Rome is in the next band; third with equal merit are the Polytechnic of Milan, the Scuola Sant’Anna and the University of Trento, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ranks first in the world.

The Scuola Normale is active in the disciplinary sector of Social Sciences with the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences based in Florence, at Palazzo Strozzi. The Dean of the Faculty is Professor Donatella Della Porta.